Of friendships and lovers
by dolcissimonotappasionato
Summary: The different stages of Rose and Scorpius's relationship and how their love grew each passing year, featuring Albus Severus Potter's numerous heartbreaks.
1. Of First Years and violin melodies

**First of all,right now this story is rated K+, but it will eventually be T and M. But since I'm starting with First Year… Anyway this is my first story in English so let me now if there are any mistakes, since there probably will be.**

 **And about sending hate, I don't really care if you do.**

 _ **First Year**_

It all started when the Sorting Hat decided she was a Slytherin to the core (it had taken her years, but she had finally realised this was right), for it had barely touched her head, it shouted what she feared the most:

"SLYTHERIN!" said the Hat, leaving the whole Great Hall in a deafening silence.

Rose had to admit she had never been more afraid in such a short period of time before. Just five minutes ago her cousin Albus had ended up in the same house and, right now, James Sirius Potter looked just about to throw up.

The young redhead got up slowly, her scrawny knees trembling so much she feared she might fall down, and headed towards the infamous Hogwarts house's table.

Godric, what was she going to tell her parents?

Rose was trying hard not to cry. She finally took a sit between her cousin and a dark skinned boy her age who looked like he lacked modesty.

She had really messed up this time.

You see, being just eleven years old, Rose Weasley had managed to embarrass herself at least a hundred more times than the average human. Even for a child of Ronald Weasley, that was a record. There was one time when her mom took her to the Ministry and she had ended up "swimming" in the fountain. That had been three month ago.

But let's get back to the story.

Rose had gone from ashamed to incredibly furious. Why?

Who was more like it. Scorpius Malfoy.

He got to be in Gryffindor, the greatest house in Hogwarts, and she had to stick with soulsucker Slytherins?

 _The Hat is going decide because of your assets Rose, not your blood_ had murmured Hermione in her ear when she was saying goodbye this morning, so Ron couldn't hear her.

That's great mom! And thanks to that Al and I are now surrounded by future serial killers and zealots.

She had also told her not to prejudge but after all she was now a Slytherin, right?

"Rosie"

Suddenly, the flame-haired girl remembered she wasn't the only one scared, and that her cousin Albus Potter, was caught up in the same situation as her.

"Rose, don't. It's not his fault." the young Potter was looking at her with glassy green eyes. Yes, he had been just about to cry too.

"James doesn't seem too happy about it either" she replied

Albus rolled his eyes. Everyone knew how passionate James was.

"Sod James, you know his opinions are strictly based on quidditch, and, considering Scorpius Malfoy's muscles, it's not a surprise he's disappointed."

Turns out Malfoy was an exact copy of his father, all shoulders and legs, tall and slim, but his features were much more soft and kind, something Rose guessed he had gotten from his mother, whom she had never seen, actually. But what stuck out the most was the smile he was wearing and the way he just _fit_ in between the other members of Gryffindor. He was talking to Frank Longbottom II enthusiastically

"If he keeps up like that he's going to get sent into Hufflepuff, and that would surely piss off Draco" it was the dark skinned boy from before,he was looking at her with warm brown eyes. "I'm Giles Zabini."

Rose had never heard that name before.

"Nice to meet you, Giles."

And that's how a lifetime friendship was born.

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After the food was served and everyone adapted to their new homes (Headmistress's words not Rose's) a prefect led the way to the Common Room, that was (charming!) down in the dungeons. Surprisingly, it wasn't cold inside, and despite it was a little dark, Rose found herself loving it (at that time she probably would have killed you if you knew that) because it was unique and twisted, just like herself.

Albus seemed to like it too, since he gasped and took her freckled hand in his.

"Well, I definitely wasn't expecting this" murmured Giles to her and her cousin.

"I know it's just so…" Rose suddenly couldn't find words

"Overwhelming" Finished Albus for her.

And it was. Although beautiful, Rose thought maybe the snakes carved into the marble columns were a little too much. There was also a big, shiny glass chandelier hanging from the high ceiling, and green leather sofas and armchairs. She _loved_ it, this room, and in the next seven years it became her favourite place in Hogwarts.

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The next month was a little bit chaotic. With all her assignments, essays and violin practice, Rose barely had time for sleep, much less social life, though she still managed to make time for her best friends (Albus and Giles _still_ didn't understand why she worked so hard. They were only first years for Merlin's sake!). But sometimes on the weekends, when Giles fell asleep on the couch in the common room, Albus finished and essay due to that Monday and she had no more work to do, she found herself exploring the castle and its gardens.

This time, she chose the gardens. She liked the contrast of the red roses and the green leaves, and had learned to love the grey sky that haunted Britain and started considering it silver. Sometimes she wished she could draw as well as she could play her violin. She didn't (seriously, she had tried sometimes and heads are not supposed to look like that).

Rose took a sit on a stone bench, opened her book and was about to start when she was suddenly interrupted.

"Excuse me" said a soft voice beside her.

She looked up and saw no other than Scorpius Malfoy staring directly at her.

"What?" _Smooth as a Weasley, my dad would be proud_

"It's just that you're sitting on my Transfiguration notes." He smiled innocently at her and she soon regretted her rudeness.

"Oh." Rose quickly sat up. "I'm so sorry! I didn't see them."

"It's was my fault anyway, I forgot them when I left and when I came back…"

The red-head's face heated up like an oven, and not because of the cold.

"Oh! My name is Scorpius, by the way."

The boy held out his hand and she shook it, hoping he would not mind her sweaty hands.

"Well, I kind of knew that already."

Scorpius' smile faded.

"Of course you did." He released her hand and his expression saddened.

"I-I'm not going to judge you because of your name,Scorpius."

"You're not?" the fact that the Gryffindor's voice sounded so hopeful made her incredibly mad at whoever had been unkind to him.

Instead of answering, she just smiled at him with all the confidence she could.

He seated on the bench and she joined him.

"Since my study evening is already ruined… What are you reading?"

Rose handed her classmate her book, _A Tale of Two Cities._

"It's a muggle book!" Scorpius sounded so surprised that she just had to ask.

"You've never seen one before?"

"Not really, no. I've always lived surrounded by magic and pureblood traditions. And yes, it _is_ just as boring as it sounds." At that Rose laughed.

"Well, muggles aren't exactly 'magic' (haha) but my grandparents said I would really enjoy this type of books."

"Your grandparents?" his confusion only lasted for a few seconds. "Oh, right. Sometimes I forget not everyone's family tree looks like mine."

"As long as you love your family and they love you back, I don't see why you should be so upset about them. Yes they are… peculiar and a little bit old-fashioned if you ask me" Rose was scared he might be offended until she him smirk. "but they're still your family."

She watched his cold breath turn into smoke for a few seconds until he said.

" we…could we see each other again?"

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It wasn't that he hadn't made enough friends, or that he needed help with any subjects (after all, he was getting Os at almost everything), but he just genuinely enjoyed Rose Weasley's company.

He knew none of his friends were going to complain. Gryffindor was full of Weasleys and Giles was a common friend. He was only a little bit worried about his father, who was still a little bit strict in some aspects, but when he mentioned their friendship to him in his latest letter, Draco only encouraged him and asked about Rose. Seriously, his father really confused him sometimes.

Anyway, today was Saturday, which meant he had to meet his Weasley friend on their place after lunch.

On the weekends the Great Hall wasn't so busy, so Scorpius sat on his usual place at the Gryffindor table and started eating.

"Scorpius!" someone shouted right on his ear, and he almost chocked with his pumpkin juice.

Alice Longbottom smiled at him innocently, but they both knew she had scared him on purpose.

"Merlin's beard Alice! I almost had a heart attack!"

You see Scorpius Malfoy not only had befriended Ron Weasley's daughter, but also Nevile Longbottom's.

His mom had laughed so hard.

Alice started playing with her dark hair.

 _Oh no._ Draco had once told him girls did that when they were nervous or (Godric forbid) flirting.

"Are you doing something after lunch? Because…" Yep, she was flirting.

Don't get him wrong, Alice was nice and intelligent (and also very pretty, okay?), but he was just eleven and the last thing he needed was a girlfriend to distract him from his studies. No matter how pleased Astoria would be.

"Well I have…something like study group date." This wasn't exactly a lie, since Rose had promised to help him with a Herbology essay.

The young girl blushed embarrassed.

"Oh. Okay. See you anyway." If it wasn't for their friendship, Scorpius would have thought this was the last time he'd ever talk to Alice.

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The cold December air stuck Scorpius when he exited the castle towards the Gardens. He adjusted his red and gold scarf and buttoned his cloak.

When he arrived to their meeting spot, what he found startled him.

Rose was playing a sweet melody with a violin.

"Rose." She stopped to look at him. "I didn't know you played the violin."

His friend smiled at him.

"I do. I play in the Hogwarts Orchestra. Much better than Quidditch, if you ask me." She blushed before saying "Music is… very special for me. More than magic, even."

"Would you like to be a famous violinist?" the blonde boy asked out of pure curiosity, sitting on the bench.

She considered her answer before speaking, he noticed, because she frowned and remained silent for a while.

"Well… maybe. But I'm just eleven, I can't possibly know what I want to do for the rest of my life."  
"I do."

At this Rose looked surprised and realised that he was about to make a confession, so she put her violin back in the case an sat down beside him.

"Tell me then."

"I want to be a healer. Well, I'd be more experimenting with counterspells and healing potions than treating actual patients. I want to save people on a great scale."

Rose patted his shoulder and Scorpius realised that this was the first time they had a moment this intimate and he wanted to remember every part of it.

"I think that's really cool, but you've got your whole life ahead of you. Some things may change."

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That night he walked back to the castle with Rose, helping her with her school bag while she carried her violin case. When they reached the Grand Staircase Rose kissed his cheek before returning to her Common Room.

He must've been blushing when he returned to the Gryffindor Tower, because James Potter started teasing him about it.

"Oi Scorpius! Study group huh? I doubt History of Magic is charming enough to make your face look like a tomato."

Fred Weasley punched James' shoulder.

"God James you already picked on enough First Years today. Give them a little rest." Scorpius would always like Fred better (for the rest of his life).

"Okay, okay." James threw his hands up in the air as if surrendering. "At least tell us who she was."

Roxanne, who was a very opinionated fourteen-year-old joined the conversation.

"James! I've already told you not to make assumptions. It could have been a guy."

"Sorry, you're right. Who was it anyway?" The oldest Potter sibling seemed very eager to know.

Considering Scorpius was a Gryffindor, which meant he was brave and loyal to his friends, he should have said something like ' I just met your little cousin Rose, whom you're very protective of and she kissed me on the cheek' instead what came out was:

"Why do you even care?"

"Rude." Said Fred, but none of them seemed offended but amused.

"Leave him alone you bullies."

God bless Alice Longbottom.

"He's just embarrassed because he tripped before coming in."

They didn't seem all that convinced but they left him alone.

"Anyway." Started James and Scorpius prepared himself again. "It's getting late, we should all go to bed. We Second Years have an oral Charms exam tomorrow."

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The first Quidditch match that year was Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor, a few weeks before the start of the holidays. It was snowing (you know, since it was December) and Albus and Giles had had to drag her out of the Common Room.

"Come on guys! It's freaking cold out there! Leave me and go!" she had begged

"No Rose!" They had insisted. "You will not miss your first Hogwarts quidditch match and that's final."

So now here she was, between rude, tall seventeen-year-olds who shouted right in her ear and her friends. At least she had Rae Blake, her best girlfriend, a muggleborn who had been sorted into Slytherin and now lived under the protection of Rose, because she knew how some of her fellow Slytherins could be.

Unfortunately Rae seemed as excited as everyone else.

"Oh my God!" she shrieked "Did you see that? That loop? I can't even stay in the air a few seconds without freaking out!"

Rose spotted her cousin Louis, one of the Ravenclaw beaters, just as he threw a bludger towards James that he managed to dodge expertly. She really hated the Potters graceful quidditch movements sometimes.

"Rose!" someone called out behind her.

She turned around and met Scorpius gray eyes. Some snowflakes had gotten caught in his platinum hair, and he was smiling at her. She was lucky her knees didn't give in in that exact moment.

"Scorpius!" she had to shout, so he could hear her over the crowd's noise. "I thought you would be in the Gryffindor section."

"I was. I just noticed your bored face with my binoculars, and thought I could keep you company."

"Uh…" why was she suddenly out of words? "Sure,why not?"

"Rose? Who's this?"

Suddenly Rae didn't seem that interested in the match.

"Rae, this is Scorpius Malfoy. Scorpius, this is Rae Blake."

They shook hands and started talking. If it wasn't because Rose knew how much Rae liked Giles, she would've thought her friend was flirting. Maybe she was. Who knew with muggleborns and their weird traditions.

"Hey." Scorpius noticed someone behind Rose "Is that Giles? With Albus Potter?"

As if he had heard them, Al turned his head and looked at them.

"Uhm, hello. I'm Scorpius."

"Albus."

They all stood awkwardly.

The Gryffindor crowd cheered louder and Rose saw James celebrating with the snitch in his hand.

That year's Christmas holidays Rose felt lonely. Sure, she had fun versing her dad at chess (and losing of course) and chasing her baby cousin Lucy, but she missed Hogwarts and her friends. She got a letter from Rae, who was staying at the castle, saying how beautiful the whole school looked and how big the Christmas tree was.

It wasn't until the last week of holidays that Rose heard from Scorpius. She was brushing her teeth before going to bed and changing into her warm pajamas. Just when she was about to get in bed she heard a knock on her window.

It was Cassiopea, Scorpius grey (silver, just like his hair, and his skin and his eyes) owl.

Rose quickly sat up and opened her window, letting her friend's messenger in.

The owl was holding a letter and a package. _A Christmas gift._

Rose took both of them and gave Cassiopea a treat before she left.

The letter was inside of a green envelope, very fancy so the young girl opened it carefully.

 _Hey Rose!_

 _You wouldn't believe where I've been! My parents took me to Paris!_

 _Now I'm not trying to make you jealous (okay, maybe a little) but it was absolutely amazing. My sister nearly fainted when she saw the Eiffel Tower, but I've already told you Cedrella tends to overreact. I like Versailles castle better anyway, and the gardens, oh Rose the gardens. You'll have to see them with your own eyes to understand._

 _Christmas there is also different, I actually saw the sun!_

 _Since I know how much you love originality I decided to buy you a Louvre souvenir._

 _Just kidding, open the present._

 _Merry Christmas!_

 _Scorpius_

 _P.S: You better not feel guilty for not buying me anything, Weasley_

Rose was suddenly overwhelmed with love for her friend. How could someone be so sweet and caring? She was so going to buy him something, anyway.

She left the letter on her nightstand and started opening the present.

Oh. Oh my God, Scorpius.

He had bought her a book, _Music through the History of Magic._

It had a black leather cover and the title was carved in gold, a drawing of a violin under it.

The whole book seemed so posh and delicate, she didn't even think she could open it much less actually read it.

But her curiosity won this time. It was even better than she had imagined.

The next morning her mother found her asleep with a new book on her face.

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"I told you not to buy me anything."

Rose had greeted him when she found him on the train with a hug and a present.

"Oh, please Scorpius. I never do what anyone tells me to do much less what _you_ tell me to do. Just open it."

And he did.

"I get you liked my gift, then." Was all he could say.

"I asked my grandma to do it for you. Your present was very special for me and I wanted to give you something special too. Oh! And my grandpa said your welcome to come over whenever you want."

Rose had given him a Weasley jumper. It was red, with a gold S in the center.

"Hey guys!" Albus Potter seated down beside his cousin.

Scorpius could see how much Rose loved her best friend. Her big blue eyes seemed to shine whenever they were together, and Albus skin looked less pale. He wished he had someone he could love like that. Maybe he had already found that someone.


	2. Of cousins and Bertie Bott beans

**First things first, I wanted to say the first chapter was one of the shittiest things I've ever written, when I uploaded it I was like wtf Isabel what are you doing? I didn't even develop the characters' personalities and relationships. Anyway, I really hate writing about the first years, so I'm going to jump to Fourth Year, YOLO. Also, I apologize for all the line breaks, suddenly I can't write I don't know. Aaaaaaand there is some swearing in this one, like f words and shit like that.**

 **I don't own anything blah blah blah**

 **So here it is, enjoy, read, review, whatevs.**

 **P.S: I tried to make it as British as possible, but I'm more familiar with American English. -.-'**

This summer had been great. Like, amazing.

Scorpius had been to Romania with his parents and hooked up with a girl there. Then, when he came back his girlfriend greeted him in a very special way.

Yes, he was having a fun summer indeed.

Except Rose wasn't talking to him. When Scorpius told his best friend about the Romanian girl, the Weasley had been horrified that he had betrayed his girlfriend like that and refused to speak to him for the rest of the summer. Of course, he had other friends: Alice, Albus, Giles, Fred… Still, they weren't Rose.

"You know she's right, don't you?" Scorpius' sister, Cedrella, had teased him.

Cedrella was a skinny twelve year old, with gold blonde hair like their mothers' and gray Malfoy eyes. Her skin was more likely to tan than Scorpius' and Draco's and her features were also softer.

"She has no _right_ to be mad at me! It's not like it's her I cheated on."

Then Ced just looked at him like he was stupid and continued reading a book that Rose had leant her. His own sister was torturing him.

"By the way," Cedrella started then "Lily invited me over, and she asked me if you'd like to come."

Ah, yes. Scorpius forgot to mention it. Cedrella Malfoy was best friends with Lily Luna Potter. Astoria feared her husband would suffer a heart attack.

"Well, um… I don't think it's a very good idea, Ced. I really don't feel like fighting, and much less with Rose."

Rose and Scorpius may have been the best of friends, but they were still a Weasley and a Malfoy, and they argued as much as they talked. Still, Scorpius enjoyed fighting with Rose, and he knew so did she. It was just how they were, they liked challenging each other, like who could get the best marks or who could make Albus feel more uncomfortable (although that wasn't very difficult, that kid was shy as hell, the complete opposite of his brother, who could kiss you on the mouth without even knowing who or what you were).

"Son," Draco Malfoy sat on the armchair beside his daughter "if don't go and fix things with Rose I'll drag you by the ear myself."

 _Well, if you put it like that._

Ten minutes later the two blonde siblings erupted in the Weasley's living room from the fireplace.

"Seriously mate," said Albus Potter's annoyed voice "you've been doing this since you were born, you ought to be more graceful."

While Scorpius lied on the floor covered in ashes, Cedrella straightened her hair calmly and smiled at Albus.

"Hey Al! Do you happen to know where Lily is?" Ced asked

"Yeah, upstairs. She's just finishing her Astronomy essay, maybe you can help her." The Potter boy answered her while helping his friend up.

The young girl ran upstairs and left the two boys alone.

"I don't care if Rose is gonna be mad at me, but you have to tell me about the Romanian girl."

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 _How dare he?_

How dare he disrespect women so much and then feel like he was doing, not the right thing, but the _cool_ thing?

She had thought better of him.

Rose was sure as hell she wasn't going to forgive him until he told poor Monica.

"Hey Rose!" it was Rae, who was staying for the weekend "Hugo and I are going to play chess against your dad. Do you want to watch us lose in the shortest time ever registered?"

"Sure, why not? I always enjoy seeing my brother embarrassed."

So they headed towards the living where her father waited for them. Along with Scorpius Malfoy.

They just stared silently at each other for a few seconds until Rose turned around and made an indiscreet insulting sound (she snorted, okay?).

"Oh Merlin, where's Hermione when we need her?" Rose heard Ron complain.

She'd never tell anyone EVER, but she was really glad Scorpius followed her this time.

"Rose, wait!" he shouted after her.

Her body stopped against her will and spun around.

"What?"

Wow. He looked really mad. At her.

"I'm sorry Rose, but I don't see how my love life involves you in any way."

 _Ouch_ , somewhere deep in her heart something cried out.

"It's not that Scorpius." She argued, feeling helpless. "I just don't think what you did was noble at all, and I definitely don't think Monica deserved it?"

She saw by Scorpius expression that all this time he hadn't been thinking about having betrayed Monica at all.

"You're right. I'm sorry. I'll write to her tonight. I just… hadn't realised…"

Rose felt her cheeks flush. This happened between them sometimes. They were best friends, yes, but Rose knew her own feelings, and she knew that Scorpius was special for her, in _that_ way.

She hadn't told anyone, of course. Not even Albus, whom she told everything to. This was something she had to digest by herself, and face it if (when) it became serious.

And it's not like she was oblivious or something, she had caught Scorpius looking weirdly at her too. Sometimes she wondered if his feelings for her were stronger than hers, and what she would do if it wasn't him that rejected her, but the other way round. Rose didn't she would ever forgive herself for braking his heart.

"Scorpius." She caught his attention by grabbing his wrist "I totally and completely forgive. I know I can be difficult sometimes. I'm sorry for making this such a big deal. Now let's go inside before everyone in the house comes to eavesdrop."

As if they weren't already.

Rose knew Fourth Year wasn't going to be the hardest one, but it still felt like hell to go to bed at one a.m to finish two projects and that one Defence Against the Dark Arts essay she couldn't bring herself to even start, and wake up at seven in the morning so her roommates didn't waste all the hot water.

She also knew she shouldn't take it on poor Giles Zabini, either, but he just really pissed her off when he said:

"Hey Rose, could I copy your DDAA essay?"

And that's when she shouted:

"DO YOUR OWN DAMN HOMEWORK, YOU LAZY TWAT!"

Giles pretty much felt like a little bug in that moment.

"Rose, dear, let's go out, okay?" Rae grabbed her by the arm and dragged her out of the Great Hall.

When they were outside, Rae told her to go to _their place_ and wait for Scorpius there. Smart girl she is, Rose thought. The redhead knew she probably would have shouted almost at everyone except her Malfoy friend in that moment.

So Rose went to their place and sat on the stone bench.

"I saw you didn't finish your bagel, so I brought you one."

God bless Scorpius Malfoy and his ever soft temper.

"Oh Merlin's pants I love you." She took the bagel he handed her and feverishly started eating it.

"When was the last time you properly slept. Like, all through the night." He asked her while he ate his own breakfast, an apple.

"I don't know. Summer, maybe?"

"Godric, Rose! You're going to faint or something!"

"Ah, whatever. It bothers me more the fact that I haven't touched my violin since we arrived. Hogwarts's keeping me busy this year was much easier and I had the same classes."

"Why did you take so many classes, anyway? What do you even need Muggle Studies for?"  
"Knowledge." It sounded as if she had said 'duh'. "Muggle traditions from wizards point of view."

"For God's sake Rose, your mother's a muggleborn."

"She took Muggle Studies too."

He didn't seem surprised.

"How's Divination going?" Rose asked him just to piss him off.

Divination had been the one class she had chosen to avoid.

"How do you think? All Albus and I do is laugh at Trelawny and make up terrible predictions."

"So much potential wasted, both of you. You could've chosen Arithmancy or something like that."

"I'm actually taking Ancient Runes. And you would know that if you paid any attention to me at all."

There was some bitterness in his town that made her suddenly very aware of how much she had been ignoring him.

"You know what. Let's skip class."

"What?" Scorpius was looking at her as if she had gone mental

"You said I'm not paying attention to you. You're right. One day can't hurt."

She held her hand out and he took it.

They spent the rest of the day hiding in the kitchens, gossiping and laughing at each other.

Rose really liked this moments, where she could shoot secret glances at her best friend, watching him all relaxed and smiling, his face read from laughing and his eyes shining with love.

She knew then she was in love with him.

Bloody hell.

Rose knew she was bound to find out sometime but she hadn't expected it to happen like this.

She was taking a walk that night. After all, it was Friday, and she could afford to take one night off.

All by herself, she wandered through Hogwart's corridors. She knew if a prefect or a Head Boy/Girl found her she would be screwed, but most of them were cousins or friends of her family. Ha ha.

So here was Rose, wide awake, when she heard something. Well someone, actually.

She had heard a guy moan. As in _moan_.

The young Weasley really didn't want to intrude, so she started walking away when she heard a very familiar voice:

"Wait, stop. I think I heard something."

Albus.

Now she just had to stay.

The other person didn't say anything, but she started hearing kissing noises again.

Albus had a girlfriend? Rose was close to become the only single one in the group.

Albus made that disgusting sound of his again, and that's when Rose decided to interfere.

She opened the empty classroom's door and…

Well _damn._

Al didn't have a girlfriend.

He had a boyfriend.

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"Why didn't you tell me?"

Rose Weasley felt mostly hurt. Her cousin, one of her best friends, almost her brother had lied to her enormously.

"I… I just, I can't believe what just happened."  
"He's sixteen, Al!"

Albus stared at her like she had gone crazy.

"Wait, you're mad because he's a Sixth Year?"

"You thought it was because he's a guy? Albus, please. Now I feel bad. God, have you told anyone?" Rose really wanted to make her cousin feel better, since she could see the way his eyes started to water.

"Just James." Despite being at each other's neck ninety nine percent of the time, the Potter brothers protected each other like nobody else she had ever met. "And he promised me he wouldn't tell anyone. Please, Rose, this is for me to tell."

"Of course, I would never betray you, Al. It's your choice."

"And you shouldn't really confront me for not being honest to my family when you aren't to Scorpius, either."  
"Al." Rose warned him.

"Rose, I know that to be happy I have to tell the truth, but so do you. If there's anyone as stubborn as you that is Scorpius. He isn't going to admit anything if you don't first. You can just keep the secret forever or live a long life with him. I¡t's your choice, like you said."

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There was something going on between Rose and Albus. Scorpius knew when his friends were lying to him, or at least hiding something. He really hoped it was neither of them.

That's why he was going to corner them in that weekend's Hogsmade trip.

He put his coat on and went to meet his friends on the entrance.

When he arrived, Scorpius found Rose and Albus whispering, with their heads close together. They looked as if they were fighting, Al being the one in denial and Rose trying to convince him to do something. Everyone knew how persuasive the young Weasley girl could be, using her Slytherin traits to get what(ever) she wanted. And eventhough Albus was a fellow Slytherin, not even him could resist Rose's charm.

"What are you up to?"

As expected both his friends jumped in surprise.

"For Godric's sake Scorpius!" Albus punched him in the arm while Scorpius laughed his arse off. "You almost gave me a heart attack."

The blonde boy was about to apologize until he saw Rose Weasley hiding a mischievous smirk. _Oh well._

"Will you answer me now? What are you keeping from me? Where's Giles? What the hell is going on?"

"Ah, yes. About that… Let's go."

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Scorpius stared at the snow through the window from his seat while he tried to process it.

"Wait, you're gay?" both Rose and Albus nodded. "And you didn't tell me until now? And you're even seeing a guy? Is it serious? Who is he? Do I have to threaten him?"

"Oh, my God, you're just like Rose! Just because he's older doesn't mean he is taking advantage! He's not going to hurt me."

"Well it is definitely going to _hurt_ if he's older."

Albus slapped him on the head, looking red as a tomato.

"Okay, okay! Sorry!" He wasn't sorry. "I was just joking!"

"Al." suddenly Rose intervened. "I assumed you'd tell Giles as well. Where is he?"

As soon as Rose spoke those words, they both realised what was going on.

"Oh, Al." the redhead grabbed her cousin's hand. "I'm so sorry I brought it up."

"No, it's okay. Really, I ought to tell him soon, it's already been a long time since I feel like this."

Scorpius understood how his friend felt (of course he did) and decided to take pity on him.

"You know what?" Scorpius stood up "Let's go to Honeydukes. I'll buy you both whatever you want."

Al seemed to cheer up then, but he was clearly struggling and the cold weather made him even paler, his skin contrasting with his jet black hair, which fell just above his cheeks. He looked kind of sick, Scorpius thought, but of course he did most of the time.

At Honeydukes the three of them wandered between the candy exhibitors by themselves, both Rose and Scorpius giving Al some space.

Suddenly Scorpius' redheaded best friend approached him.

"Hey."

"Hi. How are you?"

"Still cold from outside." She locked their arms together. "I'm trying to decide what sweets you're going to buy me."

Rose smiled at him and snuggled closer to him.

 _Merlin's pants._

Okay, Scorpius wasn't blind. He really tried not to, but he was starting to realised his best friend's body changes. Her hips were more noticeable than before as well as _other parts,_ and her face was less round and more defined, her cheekbones more prominent and her eyes seemed smaller, more proportionate to the size of her face.

"Earth to Scorpius." Rose was waving her hand on his face. "You're staring at me. Is there something on my face?"

"No, your face is just fine." _Just fine_ _ **wink wink**_

"Whatever." Rose didn't care that much for her appearance, but she still liked to make a good impression.

"Guys," Al came up behind them, carrying a bag full of candy. " are we ready to go?"

"Mate, I may be rich, but I'm not paying for that much candy."

"S'alright, I already paid half of it. But you said you would invite us."

Scorpius pulled out his wallet.

"How much was it, you Slytherin serpent?"

"Five galleons."

"Five galleons! Albus!" Rose punched him

"What? It's not my fault I eat my feelings!"

Scorpius handed him the money, smirking. Yes, Albus Potter was definitely a Slytherin serpent.

As soon as Christmas holiday started Scorpius was immediately invited over to the Weasley's.

He couldn't stay for long, of course, his parents were taking him and Cedrella to Buenos Aires. Rose wanted to kill him, obviously.

He stepped in the house and found it strangely silent. Rose was sitting by the fireplace, doing Astronomy homework.

"Hey!" she smiled at him and stood up. "Everyone's still asleep, you got here very early."

They hugged semi-awkwardly and headed together upstairs. Scorpius noticed his best friend was still wearing her pajamas.

"It really is early, huh?"

Rose checked her muggle watch.

"Well, half past eight. But most of my cousins stayed up late to finish playing a quidditch match and the adults have gone to work."

"And Al…"

"Nope." They had finally reached Rose's room, which she shared with Lily. "He hasn't said anything at all."

"And Giles…"

"He hasn't told him anything, either. Oh! And he broke up with that guy, whatshisname McLaggen. Al said it wasn't and ugly break up, but it was his first. I know he must be hating himself right now. He does that sort of thing, blames himself for everything."

"Albus is gay?"

Shit shit shit.

They had forgotten about Lily Luna completely.

"What?!" Rose's big blue eyes were wide open. "Oh, my God. I don't…"

"Don't lie to me." Lily's delicate face showed no innocence or naivety. "Is he or not?"

She got up from the bed and stared at both of them, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well…" started Scorpius. "This isn't for us to tell, Lils."

"Please, don't ask him." Rose pleaded. "You know how he is. Give him time."

The youngest Potter didn't look exactly pleased, but she didn't say anything either.

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"Well, you two are some bloody arseholes."

James didn't look mad. He looked furious.

"You can't just go gossiping like that in front of Lily! Rose, you've known her literally all her life! You know she's as curious as a fucking cat."

Rose felt her whole face heat up. She really hadn't meant to betray Albus like that, and much less in front of his sister. God, what was she thinking?

"James, I'm so…"

"No, Rose." Scorpius intervened, surprising both her and James. "Look, we're both sorry that that happened, but Albus has always been surrounded by love and he's seen other people in his family come out. What is he so scared of? He's just lying to himself!"

"Maybe he's not scared of saying he's gay. Maybe he's scared of Giles finding out!" James overprotectiveness was starting to piss off Rose.

"Will you all just stop?"

Al was standing in the doorway.

"I told Giles this morning. I would've told you if you weren't so busy discussing my private life."

James' face was drained of all colour.

"Oh, Albus, we're so sorry…" Rose started to apologize but Al interrupted her.

"He told me that he'd like to meet me at Hogsmade, would you like to come with me?"

As soon as they got there, James, Scorpius and Rose realised it hadn't been such a good idea to accompany their friend, because it took Albus and Giles twenty minutes to start kissing each other.

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Since Albus was too busy with his new boyfriend (hint: Giles), Rose and Scorpius were left alone on the ride back to Hogwarts.

"Well, this Christmas has been… interesting." Said the blonde boy

"Interesting… maybe." Rose agreed. "Well, you missed most of it anyway. And I still haven't told Rae, I don't want her to find out her crush likes other wizards."

She saw her best friends ashamed face and frowned.

"You completely forgot about Rae, didn't you?"

"Ei mate!" Giles appeared on the compartment's door, Albus resting his head on his boyfriends shoulder "Good to see you! Where have you been?"

Rose studie her ousins face. All her life, Al had always been the one running after his siblings or cousins, the silent one, the one who always was sick, the sleepy one… But since he had started dating Giles and came out, his face had permanently lit up. He started talking to everyone (and he talked a lot, Merlin it was like nonstop) and his health was almost perfect now. Maybe being physically lovesick really happened.

"Giles!" Rose yanked her friends arm and dragged him into the compartment, and then reached for her cousin, but he was already in. Yeah, Al was a little bit obsessed.

"What?" Giles looked astonished, almost making Rose feel sorry.

"Sit down, both of you." They obeyed. "You have to promise me to tell Rae as soon as you can."

"I'll tell her." Agreed Giles. "No one would want their crush's boyfriend to tell them about their relationship."

Al rolled his eyes and stood up.

"Are we done?" he asked. "We have stuff to do."

"Snogging doesn't count as 'stuff'"

"Oh, fuck you, Scorpius."

"You wish."

Rose dropped Muggle Studies in the end. Headmistress McGonaggall hadn't been to happy because it was the middle of the school year, but she had let Rose do it anyway.

So now that she didn't have to write an essay about telephone or computers, she started playing her violin again. It had been long since the last time the young Weasley had played it, so her finger were bleeding and sore.

"I didn't know it could physically hurt you, I just thought it made you feel melancholic and depressed." Rae teased her about it.

Rae hadn't taken Giles and Albus' relationship too bad, but she still refused to talk to them out of embarrassment. Both Rose and Scorpius had tried to convince her that Albus didn't hate her, but she still couldn't believe them.

"Rose," Scorpius caught her hand at the dining table and she shivered. "look at your hand. Bloody hell, what did you do?"

"My violin. It was pretty pissed at me for not touching it for the past year so it decided to punish me."

"I can see."  
Her fingers had had to be bandaged.

Rose remembered very vividly when she went to the Infirmary, because she had found a very pretty young lad there.

Owen Ming had broken his arm playing quidditch for the Ravenclaw team, and was still recovering from the injury.

He was really handsome. His hair was incredibly black, his skin white and smooth, his eyelashes long and dark. They had started talking and Rose found out he was even prettier on the inside. Owen was very intelligent and charming, as well as polite.

That's why she agreed to go on a date with him the following day.

Of course, they didn't leave Hogwarts, but he took her on a walk and then to the Astronomy tower, were they kissed a few times.

So now Rose felt over the moon.

"Rosie, are you okay?"

Scorpius was looking weird at her, frowning.

"I'm fine." She said, and released her hands from his grip. "I have to go thought. I'm meeting someone. See you tonight!"

And she left.

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What Rose liked the most about Owen wasn't his looks or the fact that when he kissed her she melted to his touch, but that he wasn't jealous or controlling at all.

He knew about Rose and Scorpius' extreme closeness, but didn't mind when Rose kissed her best friend's cheek, or when he hugged her tight, though sometimes it was Rose who put the limits because she didn't want her amazing boyfriend to feel betrayed.

On the other hand, Scorpius wasn't that pleased with Ming. Yeah, he seemed like a nice bloke and everything, but he barely saw Rose now. He knew that Owen was her first serious boyfriend, and that there was some special connection between the two of them, but for Godric's sake, he was Scorpius Malfoy and she was Rose Weasley. They couldn't be apart for that long.

So now he basically hung out with Albus, Giles and Rae (separately of course, he didn't want to be between a relationship or an argument) or his dormmates.

One night, while he was miserably lying in the Common Room doing nothing, James and Fred stood in front of him.

"We need to find you a distraction." They said.

"Huh?"

"We think… you should try for the Gryffindor quidditch team. The seeker had an accident and we need a replacement."

That years' final quidditch match was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, and Rose felt a little bit conflicted. In the Gryffindor team were half her family and her best friend, and in the Ravenclaw team was her boyfriend.

Rose still hated quidditch, but since she was already here, in the Quidditch Pitch, surrounded by shouting rude lads and ladies, she might as well make the best of it.

Slytherin supported Ravenclaw, obviously, so Al and Giles, who wore borrowed red and gold scarves, stood out among the green and blue crowd.

"James, you bloody wanker!" shouted Albus at his brother, who heard him and showed him his middle finger. "How could you let them have the quaffle?"  
An hour passed and Gryffindor was winning 100-90 , but Ravenclaw's seeker seemed much more concentrated than Scorpius, who looked just about to throw up. Literally.

"Al!" Rose shook her cousin's shoulder, and her stopped shouting at their family to listen to her. "Something's wrong with Scorpius!"

The redhead pointed at her flying best friend and Albus followed her finger's direction, frowning when he saw Scorpius.

"We have to get him out of the pitch!"

They tried screaming at Ethan Wood, the captain of the Gryffindor team, but he didn't seem to pay attention to anything but the match.

"That's it!" Rose said. "I'm going to get Hotch! He's going to fall!"

And just as she said it, a bludger hit Scorpius in the head.

"No!" Al and Giles shouted, but Rose was stunned into silence.

Scorpius fell off of his broom, and Roxanne and Fred caught him before he reached the floor while James fought with the Ravenclaw beaters. Madame Pomfrey came with a stretcher to carry Scorpius out.

"Oh, my God Rose." She felt Giles' hand on her shoulder while he dragged her out, Albus leading the way. "Let's get out of here."

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When they reached the Infirmary Cedrella was already there, her eyes puffy and red and her lower lip swollen from biting it.

"Rose!" Ced hugged Rose, wiping (indiscreetly) her tears on the young Weasley's robes. "Did you see it? Oh Merlin I thought he was going to-"

"Well!" Al interrupted Cedrella. "Did Madame Pomfrey tell you anything?"

"No. They're still inside, with Mom and Dad. Apparently McGonagall sent them a message just after the accident and they came immediately. But they told me to wait outside."

Minutes passed (though for Rose it felt like hours) and they all waited together, Giles stroking his boyfriend's black hair and Cedrella briding her nearly perfect blonde hair.

Rose and Cedrella's relationship wasn't the closest maybe, but they still felt comfortable around each other. They hadn't had a real conversation ever, and Rose wandered sometimes what was inside that model-like head of Ced's. The young redhead knew the Malfoy family was a complicated one, and so were its members, all incredibly attractive outside and inside. Scorpius once told her he thought it was because it was easier to attract their preys, and even though they had laughed it off, Rose knew his family's past haunted him. She also suspected Cedrella was more affected by it than him though she didn't know why. Rose could see behind those beautiful blue eyes something very dark that was affecting her best friend's little sister and it was starting to bother her.

Madame Pomefrey came out of the Infirmary suddenly and looked at them.

"Only two of you can come in. He's barely conscious."

Al and Giles decided to leave then, giving both girls a hug and promising to come back later.

When Rose stepped in the first thing she saw was Astoria Malfoy running toward her daughter and Draco Malfoy sitting next to his son.

Scorpius' face was paler than usual, a huge white bandage around his skull. He looked peaceful in his sleep, his features relaxed and his arms on his sides. His father was holding Scorpius' right hand, stroking its back.

Astoria released Cedrella and turned to Rose. "Oh Rose, love, how are you?"

"Well…" she tried to hide her fear. "Good, thank you. And Scorpius-"

"He will be okay. Madame Pomfrey told us he has a concussion and that he probably won't remember what happened, so let's not just tell him about it at all. Oh! And she also mentioned that he has the flu, wich is why he almost passed out during the match. Because of the fever."

"Only Scorpius" Draco intervened "could get himself sick before his first quidditch match."

"Oh shut it, Draco. He's just fourteen years old. Do you expect him to be a quidditch star?"

Scorpius' father simply rolled his eyes.

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Scorpius awoke with a massive headache. He opened his eyes carefully and slowly.

"Scorpius." Someone whispered beside him. "Are you awake?"

Rose. Scorpius felt her hands on his face, stroking it.

"Ugh." Was all he could answer.

Rose laughed and softly kissed Scorpius' cheek. If he wasn't feeling like shit he probably would've turned red as a tomato.

"Your mother asked me not to tell you what happened, so don't even ask."

His redheaded best friend was sitting in an uncomfortable-looking chair, an open book lying on her lap.

"The Great Gatsby?" he read aloud, and he felt his brain pulse. "I thought you read that last year."

"What? I can't read a book twice?"

"Drop that attitude." Scorpius closed his eyes, feeling tired even though he had just woken up. "Or when I'm feeling better I'll kick your arse."

Rose smiled and took his hand.

"Please, tell me you didn't get the flu by kissing Sylvia Nott."

"Yeah… that would be lying."

"Scorpius! What the hell?!"

You see, ever since Rose had started dating her superhot and superintelligent boyfriend, Scorpius had been a little bit miserable. Aside from the fact that he felt something for his Weasley best friend, he barely got her alone anymore. Either she was with Owen, or she was with Scorpius _and_ Owen. Godric, that boy may have been very nice and everything, but he didn't know when to… disappear, you know? So he started snogging every girl in the school (to forget Rose and to feel less lonely).

"Well, it's my goddamn right to kiss whoever I want!"

"Maybe! But not someone who has the flu!"

"How was I supposed to know she had the flu?"

Rose simply sighed and started reading again. Scorpius felt his head pound and his stomach growled.

"Shit, I forgot." Rose stood up and brought him a plate with bread and rice. "Madame Pomfrey said you would be hungry, but you can't eat anything too strong for a while."

Scorpius took the plate from her hands and noticed that she wasn't wearing the bandages anymore. Her finger still looked bruised, though.

"You took the bandages off." Scorpius said before eating the bread. "Why?"

"I don't need them anymore."

"You're not playing anymore, then? I know you needed them so it won't hurt."

"No, Scorpius." Rose admitted, looking ashamed. "I'm not playing my violin anymore."

"You know what? I don't even care about the reason, you better start playing the violin again."

"I don't have time-"

"Because of Owen. God, it's like he owns you. He follows you everywhere and I barely see you anymore. I've never done that to you, Rose. My girlfriends are just girlfriends, they're not you. No one is more important to me than you. But you've dumped me, and this is your first boyfriend. Who knows if you'll even know my name when the next comes."

Scorpius watched the tears running down Rose's cheeks and immediately regretted everything he had said.

"If you're going to insult me and my boyfriend I'm not going to stay here to listen."

He watched her leave, her red hair dancing while she stomped out of the Infirmary.

Rose was packing her things in her trunk when Rae told her that Owen was waiting outside their Common Room. The young Weasley left her things on the bed before leaving the dorm.

She found Owen standing against the wall, nervously biting his nails.

"Hey." Rose greeted him. "What are you doing here?"

"I… need to tell you something."

Oh no. Rose had been fearing this moment for a long time. He was simply too good to be true. Owen was going to dump her for another girl and she was going to die alo-

"I love you."

Rose found herself mentally dropping f-bombs and s-bombs. How on Earth… What was she gonna say to him? She liked hima lot, but Rose was sure she didn't feel _that_ for him.

"You don't have to answer anything, but I'm sure I needed to tell you."

"I…" Rose took a deep breath before continuing. "I don't think it's fair for you, Owen. You clearly deserve better and I'm sure I don't feel like that for you."

The boy looked close to tears now and Rose started crying because she hated herself for doing this to him.

"I know." Owen surprised her by grabbing her chin and pulling her face up to look at him. "I just needed to tell you before you broke up with me. These few months have been great Rose, and I will always thank you for giving me this experience."

Rose grabbed his face with her hands and pressed their lips together one last time. The kiss tasted like tears and sadness. His lips were soft against her, almost as if he were apologizing. They kissed for a few seconds before breaking apart.

"And" Owen sounded breathless. "I know you were unhappy. I know you missed your violin and I know you missed Scorpius." He smiled before saying. "Just tell him you're in love with him Rose, by the way. It will make things easier for everyone."

Rose studied his beautiful Asian features. She'd always tought he was one of the more exquisite people she'd ever known and she also knew Owen would always have a place in her heart. He was just so intense and soft at the same time, it made her confused. But it was then that Rose realised that maybe she had liked and idea more than a real person. In the end, Owen had ended up boring her sometimes and making her feel crazy other times. She hadn't liked that.

"Owen, I will always remember this. Thank you so much."

Rose kissed his cheek and headed back to the Slytherin Common Room.

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"It wasn't an ugly break up." Rose told Scorpius. "It was rather fairy tale-like, with him being a gentleman and everything. Ugh, I can't believe I don't miss him. He was the best kisser."

Rose and Scorpius had both forgiven each other a that morning before stepping in the Hogwarts Express. He said it had been the concussion and painkillers and she kind of still blamed him but had apologized for being too dramatic. Scorpius couldn't believe some of the things he had said to her, even though they both knew they were a bit true.

"Yeah yeah, I don't want to hear about his snogging skills. I'm just glad you're still friends."

"Of course!" Rose threw a Bertie Bott bean in the air and caught it with her mouth. "I already told you he's the best ex ever."

Scorpius smiled at her before opening a chocolate frog.

"Merlin's pants, Rose look at this!" he showed her his card and she started laughing uncontrollably.

It was her father.

"Can you believe" Rose started, wiping tears from her face. "that I had never seen one of those before? Can I keep it? I have to show it to Hugo."

Scorpius gave his best friend the card without hesitation, because he knew he would give her anything in the world.

When the laughter ceased the young Malfoy noticed Rose was crying and trying to hide it.

"Rose?"

"Oh Scorpius!" she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly and crying on his shoulder. "I'm going to miss you so much!"

"W-What?" Scorpius stroke Rose's soft wavy hair, but suddenly stopped when he heard her say that. "What do you mean?"

Without even looking up, still resting her head on his chest, Rose dropped the bomb. "I'm going to Australia for the whole summer. I won't see you until September. I told my mum she couldn't do this to me, but my parents thought I needed to relax over the summer and they know London's weather stresses me out. Besides, it's going to be a cool experience but, not seeing you in months? I don't think I can do that."

She finally looked up, probably expecting an answer. Her big blue eyes shone because of the fresh tears, her cheeks were flushed and her lips red and Scorpius just couldn't resist himself.

He kissed her.

They pressed their lips together, Scorpius' arm around Rose's shoulder, pushing her against him. Rose made a sound at the back of her throat and pulled Scorpius' hair. Her tongue met his lips and it was then when he knew they had to stop.

Scorpius pushed Rose away and they looked at each other.

"Excuse me." Scorpius stood up as fast as lightning and left, his lips tasting like Rose and strawberry-flavoured Bertie Bott beans.

 **Aaaaaaand that's it. I apologize if some things make no sense or if I misspelled anything. Also, in Spanish we use the comma much more often and it may be weird for all of you.**

 **I'm still considering rating the next chapter M (for obvious reasons), let me know what you think.**

 **By the way, for all of you Raven Cycle fans, I'm planning on writing a College AU, so it might take a while to finish both fics.**

 **I hope you liked this chapter since it's 18 pages and 6346 words long. Probably one of the longest thing I've ever wrote.**

 **Xoxo Isabel**


	3. Of first times and changes

**I'm dedicating this chapter to my best friend, Blanca. I love you, bitch. You tha best.**

 **Sorry for the delay, shit just kept getting in the way (like, my laziness).**

 **I apologize for any mistakes, and please remember: English is not my first language.**

* * *

Rose woke up suddenly to the sound of someone poking her window.

"What the fuck?"

She got up from the bed to see who it was and…

"Albus?"

Her own favourite cousin stared at her from the other side of the glass, wearing a dark short-sleeved shirt that made his skin look even paler –and they were in the middle of August, that boy just didn't tan. But neither did Rose, anyway.

She opened the window and stared at Albus.

"Al, it's four in the morning. What the hell do you want?"

"Just let me in, for Christ's sake." He jumped in, stepping on her Herbology assignment, which was placed on her desk.

If there was something Albus had kept through his sixteen years of life was his snarky and condescending attitude, even when his mother slapped him on the back of his head whenever she heard him say something disrespectful or of the sort.

"So?" Rose asked once Albus was in, standing awkwardly in front of her. "Are you just going to stand there, looking at me in my cute paiamas or are you going to tell me what's wrong?"

What he said turned Rose's blood into ice.

"I slept with someone else. I just… I did. I fucking cheated on my boyfriend, Rose." He started crying then and he dropped himself on her bed, covering his face while his whole body shook.

She didn't know what to say. Rose believed in true love because of her cousin's relationship with Giles Zabini. They had been dating for two years now and their faces still shone whenever they were together, she remembered Scorpius telling her about how Albus always looked sick until he started dating Giles.

"Are you…I…What?"

"I'm not going to say it again, Rose."

Al looked sick again, she realized, his green eyes dark and his usually pink lips pale.

"What happened?" Rose simply asked, sitting beside Albus on the bed, trying to sound as soft as possible –and failing miserably, since she sounded perplexed instead.

"I was at a party, okay?" he sobbed, and took a deep breath before continuing. This time his voice sounded steadier. "And yes, I was drunk. And stoned. Don't look at me like that! It was a party!"

Rose resisted the urge to slap him.

"Don't interrupt me anymore or I won't tell you." There was the moody Albus she knew. "Anyway, I was hanging out with Scorpius and the Longbottom siblings when this guy approached me…"

"Scorpius was there?" Oops.

"Rose! God, you're impossible. Yes, he was there. And yes he drunk and smoked like all of us. He's almost sixteen and he can do whatever the f…"

"Okay, shut up and tell me the bloody story." Rose wiped Al's tears with the sleeve of her (new) jumper.

"This hot guy approached me, and we started snogging and then he asked if I wanted to go home with him. And I did. Wanted to, I mean. So we left and had sex. Rose," he grabbed her wrists and looked at her intensely in the eyes. "I didn't even think about Giles for one second. I enjoyed the sex. I liked the guy, I didn't even know his fucking name!"

"Shhh." She caressed his cheeks. "Don't make too much noise, Albi." Rose hadn't called her cousin Albi since they were twelve. "Don't forget I live with Hermione Granger."

Albus smiled weakly at her and they stayed like that, hugging for a few minutes.

"Rose." He said, suddenly. "You can't tell anyone about this. Not even Scorpius. I owled Giles and asked him to meet me tomorrow. I'm going to break up with him because I love him. I don't want him to find out through anyone else."

It was Rose's time to cry, then.

"Okay." She sighed.

"Do you mind if I stay with you tonight?"

"No, of course not. Stay as long as you want. You know you're always welcome here."

They curled together in her bed, Rose resting her head in Albus' chest, and it was then she realized she didn't want to grow up if it meant watching her loved ones suffer. She didn't want to turn sixteen. She didn't want Scorpius to take drugs. She didn't want to see her little brother get a girlfriend or boyfriend. She didn't want to see her cousin's already delicate heart break.

She definitely didn't want to fall asleep crying again.

* * *

Scorpius was suffering from a massive hangover. His parents pretended it was a cold, even though his father had caught him flooing home that night at two in the morning, and Draco never kept anything from Astoria.

So now he was having breakfast with his family, trying to swallow a giant toast that was scratching his already hurt throat. Scorpius could see his sister, Cedrella, smirking from the other side of the table. If he had the energy, he would've kicked her.

"Are you doing anything today?" Astoria asked her children, out of curiosity. "Just because we're not taking you on this trip doesn't mean you can stay here lazing around all day."

"Actually, we can. And no, I'm not doing anything." Answered Ced.

Cedrella was now almost fourteen years old, and everyday she looked more like her mother. Her hair was now longer, almost reaching her waist, and so were her legs. Scorpius new she was just as beautiful as him. They both shared a sort of beauty that made you want to protect them even when you knew they would hurt you, just like when you picked a rose and its thorns cut through your skin. And there was also the fact that he was a Malfoy, and that seemed to push (ignorant) people away. Cedrella suffered much more because of this than him. She had always been like this, delicate and fragile.

"What about you, Scorpius?" His mother's voice brought him back to reality.

"No. Nothing." _Can't you see I'm sort of dying right now?_

"Rose?" Asked Draco, knowing he didn't even need to say anything else.

"I don't know. I haven't seen her since Monday. I'll owl her later." He knew he couldn't see Rose like this, because she would be disappointed in him.

Which wasn't fair at all. It's not like she was the little innocent girl who sat alone at parties. He had once seen her down a bottle of firewhiskey all by herself in two hours. Although it wasn't something he was looking forward to repeat.

"Or maybe she'll owl you." Cedrella was pointing out the window, at Rose's owl, Hypnos, who was flying towards them.

Hypnos dropped the letter in Scorpius' pumpkin juice.

"I can see it belongs to a Weasley."

"Dad." Scorpius warned his father while he took the letter out of his juice and let his mother dry it with a simple spell.

 _Hey Scorpius,_

Okay, so she wasn't that mad at him (phew).

 _I just wanted to talk to you and I don't care if you are hungover now. I'm not sorry for you. I'll see you at The Leaky Cauldron at 10.30._

 _You better be there, wanker._

 _Love you, Rose_

He smiled and went to change.

* * *

When Scorpius got there, Rose was already sitting at a table, drinking butterbeer. She smiled in relief when she saw him.

"I thought you didn't drink." He took her butterbeer, teasing her. "You know, except for those eight thousand times."

"Oh shut up, you. I brought you something."

Rose handed him a glass bottle full of purple liquid. Scorpius opened it and smelled it.

"Ugh! Ew! You could've warned me. What the fuck is this?"

" A potion for your hangover. My mom made it, so you better drink it." He did, and felt immediately better.

"So, what's wrong? Why were you so eager to meet me?"

"I just needed to see my BFF."

Scorpius knew Rose was hiding something, but decided not to ask.

"And I also brought money to buy some new stuff. I can't believe it, Sixth Year already. Remember when…"

They left for Diagon Alley like that, talking about past years and memories burned in their minds. Scorpius knew he'd never forget anything about Rose. She was too remarkable, with her flaming red hair, her blue eyes and her crazy talking.

There were two memories about Rose that Scorpius would never forget:

First, the moment he heard her play the violin for the first time. Her level was nothing compared to what she could do now, but it had still amazed Scorpius then. They had both been First Years and were getting to know each other, so when he heard her play that day, he decided he would never let her go. Yes, that was a little fucked up for an eleven-year-old, but he had been so amazed by her passion and concentration. She just gave herself to the music, and still did.

Second, when he kissed her. Because it was him who had initiated the kiss, even if she had responded the way she did. That summer had been the worst of his short life, with not seeing Rose and not knowing what she thought about him. When she came back from Australia, they talked it out, deciding it had been their hormones acting and not their brains. Even if Scorpius didn't really agree (because he was in love with her) he still thanked Merlin that they were still as close as they were before the kiss.

"Scorpius! Are you even listening to me?"

Maybe that miraculous potion wasn't that miraculous. Or maybe he was just stupid.

"What?" his tone was a little bit harsh, but Rose didn't seem to notice.

"I asked you if you had already picked robes for the wedding."

Ah, yes. Victoire Weasley and Teddy Lupin were getting married that summer, and they had invited Scorpius. He saw it as a chance to get drunk surrounded by even-more-drunk Weasleys, who were hilarious and ridiculous and he loved them all very much.

"Of course! Who do you take me for? Albus?" Rose winced at the mention of her cousin. "What happened? Is he okay, Rose?"

"How did you…?"

"Hey, I've known you for five years. What's wrong with the wanker?"

"It's not my story to tell." They stepped inside Flourish and Blotts. "And don't you dare ask him. You don't even know he's hurting, alright? Just act normal!"

He nodded in agreement. Scorpius was a smart young lad, and he didn't need an angered Rose Weasley more than he needed to ingest a deadly poison.

Rose picked a few books there, and then told him she had to go back home. They walked together to The Leaky Cauldron.

Rose kissed his cheek before leaving, and she let her lips linger a few seconds, making his knees weak. When she pulled back he thought he saw her staring at his lips for a moment and then turn around.

Maybe he was imagining things now.

* * *

They were all at Rose own most feminine cousin's wedding, which was full of flowers, and pink and girlish shit, and it was begging to give her a headache. And when she got out of the huge tent in Shell Cottage where the event was being celebrated, she found half the males in her family outside on the beach, drinking. Maybe she wasn't that pissed, just a bit jealous.

To be fair, they were all looking very good. James was wearing a tuxedo under his blue cloak, which fitted his toned body and made his hair look darker. Fred didn't even bother to dress up that much, but the pink shirt he was wearing looked perfect against his dark skin. Hugo was already covered in sand (mom was going to kill him when they got back home). Louis was already passed out drunk, his shirt half opened, and Rose knew that Rae would've paid to see Louis Weasley shirtless. Disgusting. Al was still fully dressed (thank Merlin) and didn't look like he was having much fun either.

And last but not least was Scorpius. He seemed to have lost his tie at some point of the wedding, a few buttons of his shirt undone, so she could see his collarbone. His perfect hair was messy thanks to the sea breeze and the alcohol had brought a nice pink colour to his cheeks.

She took a sit between Scorpius and Albus, adjusting her pink dress. Godric, she was starting to hate pink. She didn't even mind if the sand ruined its fabric.

James put his glass near Louis' head on the sand.

"So when he wakes up he can see his ugly face." He had said.

Al chuckled slightly and punched James on the knee.

"Live him alone, arsehole. I'd like to see how you'd react at Lily's wedding."

"Oh, please. We all know Lily doesn't believe in monogamy."

This time it was Rose who punched him.

"Already criticizing me? It's not even three in the morning." Lily Luna had appeared in front of them.

She was wearing the same pink dress as Rose, but of course looked much better than her in it. Her red hair had been curled and she wore light make up. Lily had always been lovely, Rose thought, the kind of lovely that made people hate you out of envy.

Lily gave Albus a kiss on the cheek and pushed James away to sit beside him.

"Al," she started, her voice soft. "How are you?"

"Just fine." He answered.

"It's incredible, right?" Scorpius whispered to Rose. "The connection those three have. It's as if they could guess each other's feelings."

"I know." Rose was looking at her brother, who was messing around with Fred. "It's what happens with siblings. You kind of hate them sometimes, but you could never stop loving them. Even when they throw your new doll that your grandma brought you from Germany from a seventh floor."

Scorpius laughed but didn't say anything, just dropped a hand on her knee. Rose felt herself blush. Ever since they had kissed on the train, they sometimes did things like this, shared intimate touches or whispered in each other's ear or played with each other's hair… Rose knew that could be called flirting, but neither she nor Scorpius were ready to accept that yet.

And then he started tracing random pattern on her skin.

 _Godric's brown beard._

"Scorpius." She caught his hand and held it. "How are things at The Manor?"

"Why would you want to talk about that?" Scorpius was looking at her strangely.

"I don't know. I'm tired." Rose lied down on the sand and closed her eyes, enjoying the soft breeze and the sound of the ocean.

She felt Scorpius drop himself beside her and his fingers brushed hers, clearly waiting for Rose to make a move, but–unfortunately for both of them–she wasn't in the mood to mess around.

"Rose!" someone shouted in her ear. _Hugo._ "Get up and come with me!"

She sat up straight and tried to hit her brother, but he ducked expertly. They were siblings after all.

"You almost gave me a heart attack! What do you want?"

"I found something rather interesting. I want you to see it."

"What is it?" Rose knew she couldn't refuse, she was her mother's daughter.

"It's in the seashore. Come on, Rose!"

"Okay, okay, God!"

Hugo helped her up and she left Scorpius and the Potter siblings, heading towards the water. When they arrived she saw… nothing. She saw nothing.

"Hugo, what is it? I don't see…"

And then he pushed her in the water.

She swore to Merlin on that day, that her brother would pay. Maybe it would take years or decades, but she was going to make that ginger bastard pay for throwing her in the freezing, disgusting, salty water, full of strange magical creatures and fish shite.

"HUGO RONALD WEASLEY! I SWEAR TO GOD YOU ARE SO FUC-!"

"What's going on?"

Hermione Granger was the best mother Rose could've asked for. When she saw her daughter coming out of the water soaking wet and her son laughing like a maniac, she did the math. Hermione caught Hugo's ear and dragged him into the tent, out of his sister's reach, more than anything.

Rose could see Scorpius holding back tears and James' face red from trying not to laugh.

"Okay, you wankers." She told them once she got to where they were laying. "You can laugh."

And they did. (Fuckers)

Rose didn't even bother drying herself. To be honest, she didn't mind if her friends were laughing at her, either. She wasn't Gryffindor, for her pride wasn't as sweet as success, just like every other Slytherin.

"Oh, Rosie." James ruffled her wet red hair and for once she let him. "You know we love you, right?"

"What's going on?"

"Just –go back to sleep, Louis."

* * *

That year's September 1st was a rainy day, and Scorpius could hear the thunder outside the Great Hall. As always, the food at Hogwarts was delicious and his housemates were friendlier than ever (since he had spent his summer with most of them. Weasleys…) and he could spot Rose from the other side of the room. She was smiling and talking to Rae and Albus, eating like a Weasley and chatting like a Granger.

Ugh, that Weasley girl was going to be the end of him. Scorpius could see Rose felt something for him other than friendship, then why the hell didn't she make a move? She was the Slytherin right? The planner, the confident one. But Scorpius was the Gryffindor and he was supposed to be brave. He was never brave when it came to Rose and feelings.

Scorpius had talked to Albus about this a few times over the summer. The young Potter didn't understand why Scorpius wouldn't be honest with Rose if he was so sure about both of their feelings. Maybe he wasn't that sure.

It was normal for him to be afraid. The boy didn't want to ruin their friendship! But then he thought about Rose's soft lips on his…

Ah! He felt like he was going mad.

Suddenly, Scorpius felt someone sit beside him.

"Hey." It was Giles.

"Hello. What are you doing at the Gryffindor table?"

"I don't want to sit anywhere near _him._ " Giles started to fill his plate with food

"Stop eating your feelings, Giles. And for Christ's sake, give it a rest. Even you know he regrets it."

"He shouldn't have to because he should've never done it."

Scorpius sighed and left his friend alone, then. He saw James tense when he spotted Giles at the table, but the Potter said nothing. Although he did stare daggers at Giles, which, coming from someone as friendly as James Sirius Potter meant you were in trouble.

"You know what's the worst?" shouted Giles suddenly. "I have to sleep next to him now."

"Then maybe you should forgive him."

"Maybe he has a name." _James, stay out of this._

The dark-skinned boy looked uncomfortable in the presence of his ex-boyfriend's brother.

"He doesn't deserve any respect after what he did."

"He was drunk, Giles! Everyone makes mistakes! It's not like he started another Wizarding War, he just slept with someone else. And he also had the decency to tell you out of shame. I don't think that's something you would've done if you had been in his place."

Giles stood up and left.

"Arsehole." James muttered and left too.

"Don't go after him!" shouted Scorpius after James.

This was going to be a fun, fun year.

* * *

Rose almost fainted when she came in the Arithmancy classroom and saw them. In fact, she was so astonished that she ran the opposite way.

"Miss. Weasley!" the Professor called for her, but she was already out.

She had almost reached the girls' bathroom when she heard her best friend's voice.

"Rose! Wait!"

Rose turned around and saw Scorpius running towards her. He was carrying his bag, which meant he had no intention to return to the class.

She waited for her best friend to reach her, and when he did, for him to catch his breath.

"What the hell was that?" Scorpius asked her. "What happened?"

"You didn't see it?"

"No? Should I have?"

Rose just hugged him, then. Why was he so damn perfect? He smelled like cologne and boys, and his chest was soft against her face. Scorpius now towered over her, even with her being 5'8, he was almost 5'11, and Rose suspected he would reach 6 feet before he turned eighteen. And on top of all that, he was the sweetest person she had ever known. Well, at least to her, but he was still a bit _Malfoy_ to anyone who wasn't a close friend of him (anyone who wasn't part of the Weasley family or his own).

He pulled her away from him and looked at her right into her eyes. Scorpius eyes had always fascinated Rose. Eyes weren't supposed to be silver, why were his? He was silver all over, though, from his hair to his skin.

"Rose, tell me what's going on?"

"Rae and Owen, that's what's going on."

Scorpius gasped.

"Are you –really? Oh Merlin, Rose. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." She caught his slim hand and caressed it. "I mean, I don't mind that they're together, but they should've told me, right? I deserve to know, at least."

"I thought you didn't have feelings for Owen anymore." There was some bitterness in his tone that surprised Rose, and made her feel uncomfortable.

"I don't, but he's my ex and she's one of my best friends. They ought to tell me."

Rose remembered what she had seen when she stepped in the classroom. Rae and Owen had their arms around each other and they were whispering with their heads bent together. Rae's cheeks had turned a dark shade of pink and Owen's smile was brighter than a Lumos spell.

Maybe she wasn't angry, or felt betrayed. Maybe she was just jealous (thought it's not like she would tell anyone _that_ ).

Rose was sure she wasn't jealous because of Owen, but because of the intimacy of their relationship. Just one look at them and you could see how strong their feelings were. Yes, Rose Weasley, an independent young feminist wanted a cute relationship.

"Do you want to skip class and go to our place?"

Maybe she already had a cute relationship.

* * *

Scorpius checked his watch to find that he was incredibly late.

"Shit!" he said, and the woman sitting beside him jumped.

The young Malfoy sprinted out of The Three Broomsticks, where he had been drinking by himself (no alcohol, okay? Just a few butterbeers…). If he arrived to the castle past-curfew McGonagall would castrate him.

In fact, he was so worried about his genitals and so busy running his legs off that he didn't notice the dark-haired girl who turned the corner and… he knocked her over.

They both fell down and the girl let a squeak of surprise.

"Oh my God, I'm so… Alice?"

Well, hello.

Alice Longbottom and Scorpius Malfoy had been good friends back in their first years, but their friendship had transformed to simply 'housemates' when Scorpius started chasing Rose like a puppy.

Obviously, there were some 'new' noticeable things about Alice, like her full pink lips, her face no longer round and childish but still soft, the lovely shape of her neck…

"Scorpius! Oh, Merlin it has been a long time! Could you… get off me so we could have this conversation with a little more dignity?"

"Uh, yeah, um." Scorpius loved when he sounded like a troll.

He got up and pulled his friend up, taking her soft hand in his.

"Where were you going so fast?" Alice asked once they had stood up and shook the snow off their clothes.

"Hogwarts. And I'm unbelievably late. I might as well die already before the Headmistress kills me." Suddenly, he realized Alice was just as late, but she didn't seem to notice.

"Don't worry about it. I've got it covered. We can tell Dad we were together and he'll inform Minerva of the… special situation. They always let me past curfew, anyway. Perks of having a teacher for a parent."

"You'd do that?" she smiled and nodded. "Wow, thanks. You deserve an award and a throne."

"A date should be enough."

Scorpius started at her, startled. Had she just said what he thought she'd said? Then, the blonde teen smirked and held his hand out. Who was he to refuse a lady's wishes?

"My pleasure."

Their date was better than he would have ever thought. Alice was funny, simple (in a good way) and extremely attractive. Her long black hair smelled of apricots and her knee brushed his every now and then, making him smirk and wonder if she was doing it un purpose. She offered to pay and he accepted, mostly because his parents had taken all his money for spending a hundred galleons in quidditch equipment a few months ago, and now he was wasting his sister's gold. She didn't seem to mind, though, so they both just pretended it wasn't happening.

"Scorpius." Alice brought his attention back by grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at her.

They were now standing close to the Fat Lady. Neville hadn't said anything when they came back, but the grin in his face told both teenagers that he knew or at least suspected what had happened.

Scorpius was suddenly fully aware of her. Her long nails brushing his jaw, her small, delicate body next to his, her soft features, her green eyes staring right back at his.

"Yes?"

"Kiss me."

And he did. Alice entwined her hands around his neck and he hugged her by the waist. Her lips were rough on his, and she tasted like butterbeer. The girl started deepening the kiss and opened her mouth, attacking Scorpius' tongue. He bit her lower lip and Alice pulled him even closer. His hands began to make their way down her back when…

"What are you doing?!"

James Potter, Head Boy and one of Scorpius closest friends was looking at them wide-eyed.

Next to him was Rose.

Since Rose had been made prefect, she had chosen to patrol always in the company of her older cousin, probably because she preferred it instead of spending the whole night with a stranger (and because she really loved James, okay? But don't let him find out about that.)

Scorpius' best friend's features were calm, next to James', and she didn't seem near as surprised as him. But of course, Scorpius knew her, and knew the calm that came before the storm.

Rose breathed deeply through her nostrils and swallowed hard before saying "You're out after curfew." Her voice was not trembling. "I'm going to have to give you detention."

"Rose, c'mon. We're friends." Alice tried to persuade Rose, her grip on Scorpius still firm. "Can we just forget about it?"

"James?" The young red-head consulted her cousin, but he was still, well… freaking out.

"I-I… well, I suppose…"

"No, sorry." Said Rose suddenly, interrupting James mid-sentence. "We have to be objective and impartial. The fact that you're our friends doesn't change anything. Two nights cleaning the kitchens for Alice. And for you," she didn't even look at Scorpius or said his name, just wrote something on a journal with the Hogwarts emblem on its cover "two nights re-arranging the Library. We're done. Let's go, James."

Rose grabbed James sleeve and they just…left.

"Well, she seemed especially edgy tonight. Now, where were we?" Alice pulled Scorpius down by his collar and started kissing him again, but he pulled her away. "What?"

"We should… sort things out. What are we?"

Yes, that was what they had to do. Scorpius had to know what was going on between him and Alice before he could do anything about Rose.

"Well, what do you want us to be?"

* * *

To say that the Wizarding World was shocked by Malfoys and Longbottoms mixing was most definitely an understatement.

But Rose wasn't shocked, no. She was _hurt_. She was _heartbroken_. She felt stupid.

Had she not dropped enough hints? Did Scorpius not realize that she was truly and completely in love with him?

Or worse, _did Scorpius not love Rose back?_

Before, when a younger Rose Weasley had started crushing on a younger Scorpius Malfoy, she had naïvely thought that she could live supressing those feelings, because it was just a silly school-girl crush. But _now?_ Rose knew she would be in love with him forever, and watching him fall in love with someone else was killing her. Why couldn't it be her that the boy kissed? Why wasn't Rose brave enough to tell Scorpius about her true feelings? Sure, she was no Gryffindor, but maybe some of her parents' courage could've rubbed off on her?

Albus started worrying when she got a T on a Charms essay.

"Rose." The youngest Potter son approached her one night in their Common Room. "Stop this. You're not eating, nor socializing, nor studying." Albus wrapped her hand in his. "Just tell him."  
"No." Rose refused, but she caressed the back of her cousin's hand. "I won't get in the middle of their relationship when they're obviously happy. Nor will I be the _other woman_. I love myself enough."

Al chuckled dryly. "Clearly you don't, since you won't let yourself be with the person you love. Rose Nymphadora Weasley, tell Scorpius that you love him now."

Rose smiled weakly at her cousin, but she ignored him anyway.

* * *

Scorpius and Alice had a lot of fun together. They kissed, and laughed together, and had the same taste in ice cream (which saved a lot of money, by the way.), and she let him touch her boobs from time to time. Yes, Alice was a great girlfriend and Scorpius really liked her.

But he missed Rose. With every cell of his body. He was starting to see red hair instaid of dark brown, blue eyes instead of green, freckles everywhere… Scorpius Malfoy was actually going mad.

He also had a feeling that Alice was glad Rose had suddenly disappeared from her best friend's life. Scorpius' girlfriend was definitely not a jealous one, but he could understand why she would feel uncomfortable with her boyfriend hanging out with another girl all day.

Especially if he was in love with said girl.

Because there was no point in denying it anymore.

"Scorpius!" someone shouted right in his ear, hugging him from behind.

He was at a party hosted in the Gryffindor Tower, celebrating the birth of the infamous James Sirius Potter, who was turning eighteen that night. The birthday wizard was laughing with his best mates, wearing a crown with ' _These drinks are finally legal'_ written on it, a gift from his sister, Lily, who was currently flirting with a very tall and blonde Lysander Scamander. She was lucky James had the same amount of alcohol in his body as he did of water.

Hiding in a corner of the room, sitting by the fireplace, was Albus Potter, who looked as thin and pale as always, although the firewhiskey he was currently downing had brought a nice pink to his cheeks. He was also smoking, a bad habit he had started practising a few months ago. Albus looked like a Muggle movie star without even trying, and Scorpius wanted to punch him badly. Giles was obviously noticing it two, because he looked as if he were deciding whether or not to approach his very good-looking ex-boyfriend.

And then, next to Albus Severus, was Rose. She was wearing a nice green blouse with Muggle jeans and soft pink flats. She was arguing with her cousin, trying to take his cigarette and in one of her attempts she tripped and fell, which caused her to laugh like she hadn't in weeks. It probably had to do with the drink she had in her hand, but it was still nice to hear her laugh. Scorpius hadn't even heard her talk fro a while, because his best friend of six years was absolutely avoiding him.

Should he try and talk to her? Maybe he could offer her a drink or something…?

And that's when someone shouted in his ear.

"Babe, why are you standing here as if you had a broomstick up your ass?" Alice kissed his cheek and then his lips, and smiled suggestively. "Why don't we go somewhere else? It's too loud in here and I wanted to…"

What she said was lost in the cheering crowd. What the bloody hell was going on now?

"Blimey, he's sucking him dry! Surely missed him." James was talking to Fred, who was wolf-whistling at someone.

Oh, Merlin's pants. Giles and Albus.

No no no. Someone had to stop them! They were both drunk and hurt, and couldn't be trusted!

That's when he met Rose's gaze. She was frowning like him, still beside her horny cousin. Scorpius felt their connection instantly, and so did she, because she nodded and pulled the lovers apart.

"Why don't you try this when you're both sober, you shitheads? Giles, get out please, this is Al's brother's birthday party. Next time you see Albus, talk before jump him."

Giles nearly run out of the room.

"What the fuck, Rose?" that was Albus' angry voice, which he saved for when he was exceptionally pissed.

Shit, they were shouting. They were really fighting at a party. (Weasleys…)

"You'll thank me for this one day."

"I sure as hell won't. Finally, he comes to me…"

"While drunk! I was protecting you, you bloody idiot!"

"I don't want you to protect me! Leave me alone! FUCK!" Albus had burnt his finger while trying to light a cigarette.

Rose stormed out of the Common Room, looking mostly hurt by the way her cousin had spoken to her.

"Go after her." Alice whispered (thank God) in his ear. She wore a sweet smile on her lips, more friendly than romantic. "You have to stop lying to yourself, love. Thank you for this great months together, but with Rose… you could, no, will have years." The girl kissed him one last time and then pushed him to get him out.

Outside, the corridor was cold and empty, and Scorpius could still hear the roaring of the monstrous music James' mates had on. Of course no one would bother to cast a Muffliato charm. Typical reckless Gryffindors. Scorpius loved them with all his heart.

The young wizard thought about using a tracking spell before realizing how stupid he was. Scorpius Malfoy did not need magic to know where Rose Weasley was.

He headed towards the gardens, his wand illuminating the way. Scorpius silently prayed to any ancient wizard or witch that was watching over him that no teacher or prefect found him. He felt shitty enough.

As expected, outside was bloody freezing, so Scorpius hugged his own torso and continued walking as fast as his frozen legs could.

"Rose!" he called for her, shouting/whispering

Scorpius may have loved her, but it was cold as fuck outside, and he wasn't sure about his flirting abilities while dead. He was immersed in his own thoughts when he realised that he had reached 'their place'. It looked just as it always did, but covered in snow and ice. Scorpius' heart felt like the flowers looked, frozen and afraid to be hurt but prepared to be loved.

Rose was sitting on the bench with her back turned to him. Her red hair was covered in white snow.

Before approaching her, Scorpius grabbed a rose and held it in his right hand.

Then, with all the Gryffindor courage he could find, the young Malfoy sat down beside the slightly younger Weasley.

Rose turned her head to look at him and Scorpius saw that she hadn't been crying. She didn't even look flushed, though her cheeks did look a little red from the cold. He wanted to kiss her right there. Her blue eyes met his grey ones and, although she wasn't crying, Scorpius could see the pain behind Rose's cold stare.

Merlin, if he kept up like that he was going to die of hypothermia.

"Do you love her?" said Rose suddenly, not looking at him.

"Alice? Merlin, no! I mean she's a great girl but… no. I don't love her. I love…"

"I didn't love Owen either." Rose cut Scorpius off abruptly. "I feel like I've been lying to myself for such a long time."

"Godric's pants, Rose! Nobody expects you to love your Hogwarts boyfriend. You were fourteen. At that age you're only supposed to love your parents and food." Scorpius was starting to get pissed. Why was Rose so bloody stubborn?

"Well, fine! But I suppose I'm allowed to feel something for the person I'm shagging, right?"

"You shagged him? Oh, my…"

"No!" she stood up and started playing with her hair and gesturing widely, which could only mean she was stressed and struggling. "I didn't! It was just an example! Did you shag Alice?"

"No, Rose." He sounded tired. "You know, I'm fucking… I can't stand this anymore. Fuck it, I love you."

Rose looked at him as if he had just announced he was into cross-dressing and moving to Africa with a goose.

"What?"

"I love you. I want to kiss you, and want to hold you I want to…" He stopped there. "Say something, because I'm starting to sound like a bloody idiot unless that's what you want, because you would have to sort…"

And then Rose was kissing Scorpius.

She yanked him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up, and then she kissed him. On the mouth.

It was slow at first, even if Rose had almost choked him earlier. They kissed sweetly, keeping their tongues in their mouths. Then they pulled apart.

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other for a few second. The red-head looked flushed this time, her lips a little red. Scorpius thought about saying something or touching her so she could understand how much he wanted her, wanted _this_ , wanted _them_. How he wanted there to be an 'us', to wake up knowing that he could kiss his girlfriend, _Rose_ , whenever he wanted.

But before the Gryffindor could make a move, his Slytherin companion was already there. Typical. Rose kissed him again, this time with her mouth open. She tasted like firewhiskey and chocolate frogs.

Scorpius would have liked to say that it was another sweet, soothing kiss, but then he would've been lying. Rose's tongue fought Scorpius's and she bit his lip a little too hard. He groaned and put his arms around her back to press her ever closer to him.

"Ouch!" Rose pulled away suddenly, but she didn't try to untangle herself from Scorpius embrace.

"What happened? Did I hurt you? If I hurt you just…"

"Did you pinch my arse?" She didn't sound angry, but kind of amused.

"No! Why would I?" Rose was clearly enjoying watching him panic.

"Then what did?"

They pulled apart and Scorpius almost wanted to punch himself when they saw what had pinched her.

A rose. A rose that was, of course, in Scorpius hand.

"So technically, you did pinch my arse." She couldn't hide her smile now. "Why did you have a rose?"

You know what? Scorpius was tired of being all stutter-y and embarrassed around Rose. If she wanted flirty, she was getting flirty.

"A rose for a Rose." he said, giving Rose his best Malfoy smirk and handing her the rose.

She took it and looked at him suggestively, and Scorpius knew Rose wanted him to make the first move then.

He then surprised both of them by pulling her close by her hips and kissing her fiercely. The red-head didn't take long to respond, because she put her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss even more. Scorpius left her mouth and started trailing kisses down her neck, biting and licking. She moaned in his mouth, dropped the rose and started pulling his hair.

"Oh, my God…" she sighed in Scorpius' ear, making his knees weak.

His hands started travelling down her back while she attacked his neck, probably leaving a fair amount of hickeys. He reached _the_ sensitive area, and she didn't complain, so he caressed it a bit, but it wasn't his destiny. His soft hands reached her thighs, and with one quick movement, he pulled her up, and she, who wasn't even surprised, locked her les around his waist.

Scorpius quickly looked for a place to lay the girl in his arms (OH MY GOD!) down, which was difficult if said girl was biting your jaw tentatively. He spotted the stone bench, but it was probably cold and hard, and he didn't want to hurt Rose in any way.

"Scorpius." Rose groaned and kissed him languidly before saying. "Lay us down now. I don't care where."

So he lied them down on the bench slowly, but the girl didn't make a sound of distress in any moment. When they were both comfortable enough, he started seriously kissing her.

First, Scorpius started kissing Rose in the mouth and biting her lip, teasing her. Then he went for her neck. He took his time looking at it before. It had three purple love marks, making him wonder what the state of his oen neck was. Rose, who was starting to get impatient, rocked her hips against Scorpius's and he almost died right there. He attacked her neck aggressively, sucking, biting, licking… She moaned and groaned and sighed. Scorpius was having the best night of his life. He left her neck and kissed her collarbones a few times before pulling up her blouse to her breasts. He kissed her tummy in a line until he reached her pants and looked up at Rose.

Her cheeks were flushed, her lips were red and swollen and her hair was a mess. She was the sexiest thing Scorpius had ever seen.

"Uh, I…" she muttered incoherently

"Do you want to?" he asked her, caressing her cheek

"Well, definitely not here, and not tonight either." She stroked his mouth with her fingers.

"Good, me neither." Scorpius pecked her lips once, twice.

"Scorpius." Rose was smiling timidly and playing with the collar of his shirt. "We have to discuss this. But before that, you have to know that I love you too, in _that_ way. You are my best friend. But… I'd like it if you were something else, something more."

She knew there was no reason to be subtle now that she had been sucking his face for half an hour, but Rose was Rose, and she liked torturing and teasing him, didn't she?

"You don't say." Scorpius pointed at his bruised neck and she laughed, not embarrassed at all. Instead, Rose looked kind of proud.

But just when she was about to kiss him again, the Weasley girl pulled away so fast that her skull almost hit the stone. Her smile had disappeared and her blue eyes were open wide.

"What?" the teenage Malfoy asked, his voice filled with concern.

She didn't look him in the eye when she answered. "Alice."

"Oh." He sighed in relief and she frowned. "She was the one who told me to go after you. She said that I had to stop lying to myself because you would make me happy… forever."

Rose blushed and swallowed.

"Remind me to thank her later." She licked her lips. "I was so lonely. I missed you so much. I'll never forgive myself for doing this to you, leaving you for so long. I love you. God, I love you, you wanker."

He laughed and kissed her playfully, but Rose quickly deepened the kiss and wrapped her hands around his neck, playing with the short hairs on the nape of his neck. Scorpius sighed in her mouth and felt her smile.

"Stop kissing me and tell me what we are, woman!"

Rose laughed and kissed his nose.

"We are Rose and Scorpius. We don't need to be anything else."

* * *

"Remind me again why I need to do this."

Rose was being stubborn and she knew it. She also knew Scorpius was just trying to help her, but she just didn't feel like talking to Albus. Ever. Again.

"Because Al is your second best friend." She snorted at her stupid boyfriend. "Yeah, yeah, shut up. And you miss him and he misses you and needs your help."

"My help? For what? Chopping off his own bollocks? Yeah, I'll gladly help then!"

Scorpius scowled at her, disgusted. They were climbing the stairs (more like Scorpius was dragging Rose up the stairs) to the third floor, the Charms Classroom. It was fourth period and they both had that hour free, and while Rose had proposed they went to her dormitory to snog each other's face off, Scorpius had suggested they went to pick up Albus after Charms. The reason why the pair didn't have Charms with Al was simple: they were taking NEWT level and he was not.

So now here she was, waisting her precious hour with Scorpius to talk to her rude, ungrateful shithead of a cousin. Yeah, sure, she gets that he was drunk and hurting, but that didn't give him the right to treat her like he did that night! On his brother's eighteenth birthday! Rose had talked to James about Albus since that day, and all she got from him was that Al had his reasons to be sensible, that he was struggling with something and that she should be a little bit more forgiving.

What was going on with her Potter cousins? First Albus goes all polygamous and starts fucking around, then Lily got a tattoo of her boyfriends name at FOURTEEN YEARS OLD and then James stood up for his brother and started studying (?).

What the fuck did their parents feed them for dinner on the summer?

"Rose! Hurry up!"

"Shut up, Scorpius! I'll go as fast as I want!"

To be honest, she _was_ a little curious about what was going on with Albus, or if he and Giles had sorted it out, if he was doing well in all his classes, if he ate well…

Fuck, she missed him a lot. Stupid twat. None of this would've happened if he had kept his dick in his pants.

"Okay we're here." Scorpius stopped in front of the Charms classroom door. "Good luck." He kissed her forehead and started walking away.

"What? Where are you going? You little… You git! You are going to die-" and then, when she was verbally cursing her boyfriend, students started to come out of the classroom.

They were all sixth years, so many of them greeted her, including Eleanor Nott and Rae, who were gossiping and fangirling together. Rose searched for a familiar grumpy face in the crowd of Gryffindors and Slytherins, but the wanker was nowhere to be seen. She spotted a few of Al's male friends and fellow housemates and then she saw Giles. The boy was walking alone but he looked okay. Better than he had in a while, actually. Maybe what was going on with Albus was that he and Giles were working it out?

"Hey Rose." Giles hugged her tight and his scent reminded her of when they were smaller and had no boyfriends to worry about. "How are you?"

"Great! And you?"

"Better. I met someone, you know. A fifth year Ravenclaw. Very handsome. But, please, don't tell Albus. Not yet." Giles looked sad when he mentioned his ex-boyfriend.

"No, of course not, if that's what you wish." Rose tried her best not to sound disappointed. They hugged again and Giles left.

It was so sad, Rose thought. Albus and Giles had been so happy together they lit up the room. She remembered how Albus was before Giles: scrawny, grumpy, thin. Which was, what a coincidence, how he looked now that they were separated again.

"Rose?"

The young witch had turned her back to the door of the classroom to watch Giles leave, and she had forgotten about Albus momentarily, so he had been the one who noticed her.

Rose turned around again to find her cousin and Alice Longbottom staring at her. They had probably headed out of the classroom together, and Alice was pointing at something in her Charms textbook. The girl looked at Rose and Albus, closed her book and left discreetly.

"What are you doing here?" The young Potter asked. His voice was so familiar for Rose that she couldn't help it, and hugged her cousin with the force of a giant. "Oh, okay! Rose, I can't breathe!"

"Oh, Al!" she loosened her grip on him but kept her arms around his torso. "I've missed you so much! I'm tired of fucking fighting with everyone!"

Albus hugged Rose too, and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm so sorry, Rose. I shouldn't have said the things I said. You know I would never hurt you on purpose, right? You're Rosie, you've always been my best friend. Oh my God, I'm so sorry!"

They both cried and embraced each other for a few more minutes. Rose was positive they looked ridiculous and that the scene itself was hilarious, but she still crushed her stupid Potter cousin's ribs.

When they finally let go of each other and wiped the tears on their red-from-embarrassment cheeks, Rose suggested they went to take a walk outside.

In the end, outside was inside, because they were in fucking Scotland and they didn't see the fucking sun fucking ever, so they went to the Astronomy tower instead.

As soon as they arrived, Al lit one those bloody cigarettes he had started smoking after his troubled break-up. Rose absolutely hated them. The girl had only tried them once, at a party, and she had felt out-of-breath and disgusted by the taste they had left in her mouth.

"How can you even do that to yourself, Al?" The young Weasley asked before sitting on the floor. "You're going to die." Sure, sure, she was being over dramatic.

"Merlin, I hope so." The dark-haired boy answered, kind of mocking her. "Can you imagine living forever? Watching your friends and family die… Bollocks, I made myself sad."

Rose rolled her eyes at him, but laughed anyway. Al sat down beside her and started blowing smoke at her to piss her off. But Rose was not giving her cousin the pleasure of watching her lose it, so she stopped breathing through her nose.

They didn't talk and enjoyed a comfortable silence–one that was achieved after many years of trust and love–until Al finally extinguished his self-destroying machine.

"So, how are things going with Scorpius? Not that he hasn't told me many things I didn't want to know about."

"Argh, he's such a wanker. I told him to keep his mouth shut."

Al grinned at her and went to grab another one of those bloody disgusting penis-shaped (not that Al wasn't into that, obviously) things, but Rose slapped his hand away from his bag.

"Ouch, hey! What are you doing?" He screamed/asked when she introduced her hand in his bag and dug out his pack of shit-flavoured bombs.

And then she threw it off the tower.

"NO!" Albus screamed and stood up, watching his precious drugs fall into the darkness (and wetness). "God, Rose. You're such a…"He did not dare finish the sentence. "Sorry. I've been a bit sensitive lately. Must be the fags." He laughed at his own joke–one of those obscene jokes you could only make if you were part of them–and sat down again.

Suddenly, Rose remembered something.

"Al, you got something to tell me?"

He seemed perplexed–and kind of scared, too–when she asked him, and looked at her with big green, surprised eyes.

"Why would you say that?"

"James said to leave you alone because you were struggling with something. What is it? 'Cos now I can see that there's obviously something."

Albus made a noise of exhaustion and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Fucker. Almost as big-mouthed as your boyfriend."

"Well," the Weasley grabbed the Potter's hand. "he didn't tell me anything about it. But you must. You know you can tell me anything. It won't be the first time I've kept your dirty secrets."

Albus took a deep breath before speaking.

"The first thing you need to know is that I lied to you. I've been lying for so long I don't even know what the truth is. Anyway, I lied to you only once in my life, and it was such a big, fat fucking lie that I am too ashamed to even…" His voice started to crack and Rose kissed his shoulder and lay her head on it. "Rose, I didn't cheat on Giles with a guy. I cheated on him with a girl."

Rose was so startled that she got up only to look at her cousin incredulously.

"…WHAT?"

"I know, I know! It was just so…"

"I can't believe… What? Why didn't you tell me? Was it bad? Who was she? Did you like it?" she kneeled down in front of her cousin and grabbed his hands again. "I need to know! Tell me everything!"

Albus laughed bitterly and looked at her in her blue eyes.

"You're not angry I lied to you?"

"Well, yeah. But I'm more curious about what the hell happened. Tell me everything."

"Okay, okay, Merlin. Well, as you know, I was at a party with the whole gang, but mostly the lads. Giles was there too, but he left early because his mum had kind of grounded him and he had snuck out. He left, and I realized–after a joint, I'll admit that–that I was horny as… well, you know. Giles and I hadn't done it since a few weeks ago because of his travels and shit that got in the way, and I needed someone that instant. And then, Alice arrived at the party."

"Alice? You mean like, THE Alice? Alice Longbottom?"

"Yes, but that's not the point. You see, I had been noticing something strange for quite a while then. I found out I appreciated when Felicia Nott wore shorts skirts, or when one of Lily's friends stayed over and wore a tiny tank top for sleeping. Merlin, I felt weird! I thought I liked guys only! But, of course, the universe wasn't done fucking with me!" Al closed his eyes, trying to put himself together, and Rose wanted to tell him that it was alright to cry and that he shouldn't be ashamed of anything he had told her. "Back to the point, Alice was there. She wore her hair down, a white shirt with one hell of a cleavage and black, tight pants. I remember James said 'She might be a Longbottom, but she's got a FAT arse'. I couldn't help but agree. She looked lovely. So I decided to approach her. She seemed to find strange my heterosexual tendencies, but so did I, and still she didn't complain when I bought her a beer. One thing led to another and we ended up in one the private rooms of the Leaky Cauldron the Longbottoms keep. And yes, I enjoyed it. It was new, different, sexy. So was Alice. And she enjoyed it, too. I could tell by the noises she made. In the end, it wasn't so different as having sex with Giles, because I topped."

"Oh, ugh Al! You ruined the moment! You had me all seduced by your sex story, and now it's all gone!"

"Oh, shut up and listen! We did it like three times. I liked it so much that I could've kept going, but she fell asleep almost after finishing the last time. I may be a teen boy, but I am human too, so I fell asleep myself just a few minutes after she did. I woke up an hour after, and turned my head, expecting to see dark skin and pecks, but what I got was light skin and breasts. I realized what I had done almost immediately. I got dressed and prepared to leave when she woke up. 'I'll never tell anyone, if that's what you want.' Alice told me. 'I just don't know what to think.' I answered her. She sat up, not even bothering to cover herself. 'I will give you time, but don't hesitate to tell me if you see me as an option. You sure you haven't done this before?'. Then I kissed her one last time and left. I had to take the bus to your house, that's why I got there so late. It's like you live in a fucking cave, isolated from the rest of humanity!" Rose laughed at this, amused by his passionate indignation. "And the rest, you know it."

The red-head sighed. "Well, it's a lot to take in. Are you… ehm, trying it out with Alice?"

"Yep." He admitted "But you know you can't tell anyone. Especially Scorpius. He might be offended."

"You did sleep with her first, though."

"Wait, Scorpius's not a virgin?" Rose shook her head. "I thought he was saving himself for you."

They both shared at each other for a second before bursting out laughing so hard a tear or two slipped.

"Saving himself…" Rose managed to say between laughs. "I'm sure Amélie and Giulia disagree."

"Oh, and you don't?"

Well shit.

Rose stopped laughing all of a sudden and blushed deeply.

"Wait, you two haven't…" Albus was starting to understand.

"Yeah, maybe it's because I'm not a dirty little slut like you."

"Just ask Giles or Alice, I'm not exactly little."

"Or I could ask your Healer."

"You wouldn't"

And they stayed like that–bickering, joking with each other for a few hours until dinner, when they walked in the Great Hall together, and sat down at the table next to each other. Rose could see Scorpius's smug grin across the room and she reminded herself to punch him for abandoning her AND thinking everything worked out thanks to him. He may have been a Gryffindor, but he was still a Malfoy.

Twats.

* * *

It wasn't the first time she saw Scorpius drunk, but it was the first time she saw her boyfriend drunk.

He was lying on the floor, mumbling incoherently and drinking straight from a bottle of 'unknown', surrounded by his other male friends. After all those years, Rose found Drunk Scorpius endearing, if anything. She probably would have jumped him if he wasn't with his friends, but Rose understood that he needed space just like herself.

Right now the sixteen-year-old Weasley was sitting next to Albus and James, in the Room of Requirement, celebrating the upcoming graduation of the Seventh Years. To be honest, she would miss her cousin James and his distinct lack of tact–nobody knew how he had managed to shag so many girls–and now she looked at her younger Potter cousin and found that she might not be the one missing Jamie the most.

"Cheer up, you fucker." James hit his brother's shoulder with his own. "Now the whole school is yours. And the girls, too. Shit, and the boys! Lucky bastard. I always envied bisexual people. 'S like, in the future will I marry a guy or a girl? No one knows! That's like, wicked, ya?"

"Okay, that's enough." Albus took James' drink and set it down on the table. "You're raving."

But James was already asleep.

"He better enjoy this." Rose spoke up so Al could hear her. "I know for a fact that your dad doesn't fuck around when it comes to Auror-ing."

"Yep." Was all he answered. "You know, I think that's Alice right there. See you."

Cheers, Al. Now I'm all alone with no one to…

"Yoooooo, Rosie."

Well, hello there.

The handsomest Malfoy dropped down on the couch beside her and wrapped one arm around her. The alcohol brought a nice pink colour to his cheeks. He really was the handsomest. His defined cheekbones, his sharp jaw, the lovely angle of his neck, his collarbones–which she could see thanks to his partly unbuttoned shirt.

"Hey, you." Rose greeted her sexy boyfriend and tried to hide her blush.

And then Scorpius kissed her full on the mouth.

He tasted like alcohol and mint and his mouth basically attacked hers in a way it hadn't before–not that she was complaining. Scorpius' lips were not soft and tender, like they usually were, but persistent and demanding. And, considering she was as headstrong and liked being in control as much as her boyfriend, Rose grabbed Scorpius by the neck of his shirt and pulled him even closer. He tilted his head and gave her full access to his mouth.

Here they were, a Malfoy and a Weasley, snogging each other's face in the middle of a room full of other people. Hermione would have a fit.

Scorpius finally released her after pecking her one last time.

"Huh." The blonde boy's blush had nothing to do with the alcohol, now. "I didn't know you could do that with your tongue."

"Me neither." It came out more as a sigh than actual words. Rose caught her breath before speaking again. "What was that about?"

"I don't know. I guess, I saw you here and I was there, and suddenly I wanted to be closer–no, closest–to you. And well, _that_ happened."

Rose smiled, in love. All of a sudden, she felt brave –probably had to do with the fact that she had downed two butter beers before.

"Scorpius?"

"Hmh?"

"Do you want to have sex with me?"

He stared wide-eyed at her, and she regretted her words immediately.

"Like, right now?"

"What? No! I meant it as, like, if you find me desirable enough. If you _want_ to have sex with me."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows in what she described as a 'Malfoy' way. "I just snogged you senseless. Of course I find you desirable, Rose." His words had stopped sounding clumsy or disorganized, he wasn't that drunk anymore. "Why are we even having this conversation right here, right now?

"You haven't even answered my question."

"You just turned a nice evening into an uncomfortable one."

"So you don't want to have sex with me. Just say it."

Scorpius groaned in frustration and Rose feared he might actually _say it._

"You know…you know I do. It's just that I want you to want it too. I wouldn't like you to feel like it's something you have to do because everybody is doing it or because I've done it. I want you to be ready, because I love you and desire you and care for you."

Rose let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay."

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I'm ready and that I want to do it, but that I don't want it to be planned or something like that. When it happens it happens. Also, let's avoid desks or benches. I already know they're uncomfortable for snogging, imagine for shagging."

"I know."

"What do you mean you know?"

The poor boy gave her a guilty look and started playing with his glass, avoiding her glance.

"Oh, Jesus. That's bloody disgusting! Don't expect me to do it any time soon."

Many years later, they laughed at her innocence and stubbornness. After doing it on a desk.

* * *

Scorpius hadn't attended the graduation for obvious reasons, but Rose had thought it was a nice chance to tell her parents about _them_ , since they had been invited. Scorpius didn't know why, really. His own cousin, Theresa Shafiq, was graduating that year, but his parents–her aunt and uncle, just like Ron and Hermione for James and Fred–hadn't been invited. Whatever, he was used to this by now.

Right now he was dodging graduates and their families, struggling to get to Rose's own.

"Scorpius!" Fucking hell, he was never going to reach Rose.

It was Tessa, his cousin, who hugged him and kissed his cheek, followed by her mother, his Aunt Daphne. The only ones in the family who seemed to respect Scorpius' personal space where his Uncle Maximus and his cousin Charlotte–a strong-minded and respectful Fourth Year who resembled her father in every possible way.

"What are you doing here?" Aunt Daphne asked him, patting his shoulder in an affectionate way.

"Oh, my girlfriend's going to introduce me to her parents." Well, not exactly introduce, but his Aunt and Uncle did not need to know that.

"Girlfriend? Is it serious?" Scorpius nodded. "Funny. My sister didn't mention anything about her son finally settling down."

"Yeah, you see… She doesn't know yet."

"Oh, dear. Why is that?"

At this point, Tessa and Charlotte were red from holding back their laughter.

"Well, I'd like to tell her and Dad about it when I get home. You know, to their faces."

"That's nice of you. Off you go, now!"

Basically that was every interaction anyone had with the Shafiq-Greengrass family. Daphne talking and talking and talking and then Theresa imitating her.

But that didn't matter now, because he really needed to find the Weasleys –and then probably run away from them.

And then he spotted the sea of red hair and stopped walking abruptly.

Was he really doing this? He had known these people for six years! They always saw him as Rose's clingy best friend and now he was her clingy boyfriend. He was dead. So dead. Oh Merlin, Ronald was going to kill him for dating his daughter and Rose was going to kill him for being a coward git!

"Don't just stand there, idiot!" a male voice whispered in his ear.

Scorpius jumped and turned to see Albus Potter wink at him.

"Keep doing all that and they'll think it's you he's dating."

Rose had magically materialized beside him, and locked her arm with his. She gave him and encouraging smile before dragging him towards her numerous family.

"Everyone!" Rose shouted once they got close enough. "Remember my best friend Scorpius? Well now he's my boyfriend Scorpius."

Shit, Rose! Could you be any more subtle! NOTICE THE SARCASM!

Okay his brain was going on autopilot. It had collapsed. Bye. Gone. His name? What's a name? Family? Huh? Girl-?

"Oh love, that's brilliant! I'm so happy for you!"

Wh-what?

"Thanks, mum! Scorpius was worried you might, well…you know."

"You did, Scorpius?" And that was Ronald.

"Erh… I did. Although, I had no reason. Not really. You had already welcomed me into your family before. Thank you. But I must admit, as much as I respect you, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, even if you forbid me to see Rose I still would." His girlfriend smiled lovingly and snuggled closer to him.

"That's…sweet, I guess." Hermione said. "Oh, come here you two! Give us a big hug."

It was a rather cute scene until one of the Potters decided to ruin it (as usual).

"Speaking of girlfriends and shit, I just wanted everyone to know–specially Mum and Dad–that I like girls, too."

"WHAT?"

* * *

The first time Rose and Scorpius had sex it had been raining all day. They had planned going to their place with a (stolen) bottle of Firewhisky and (stolen) food from the kitchens, to celebrate the end of the year. Of course they had been invited to the parties their respective Houses hosted, but after a whole month of desperately studying and practicing, what they both wanted was to enjoy each other's company and nothing else.

So when it started raining, Rose suggested they went to the Room of Requirement. When they arrived, it looked like a homely living room, with a few couches and a nice wooden tea table. So they drank, and ate, and flirted.

It started off as innocent kissing, and then it turned into snogging. One thing led to another and suddenly they were both very naked and very close. Rose had acted as a downright Slytherin, all confident and encouraging. She also learnt very fast –every time she did something that Scorpius seemed to enjoy Rose noted to herself to repeat it.

The young Gryffindor wished his girlfriend's first time would have been somewhere else than a couch–no matter how comfortable it was–but she never complained about it.

Scorpius took his time teasing Rose and trying to make it as pleasurable for her as he could, knowing it probably had hurt her sometime in the beginning. Rose finished a few seconds before him–with a muffled scream–biting his shoulder, and when Scorpius did he groaned on his girlfriend's neck. The young Malfoy boy kissed the young Weasley girl's shoulder a few times before looking at her in the eyes for the first time since they had finished making love. Her forehead was pearled with sweat and her breathing was erratic.

"I love you." Scorpius said, stroking her cheek. "Fuck, I love you so much."

"You don't say." Rose answered, too overwhelmed to even say something coherent.

He just laughed, knowing that in Rose's language that meant 'I love you too'.

'Kiss me again." She pleaded, tilting her head upwards. Her parted lips looked so tempting that he couldn't help but obey. "I love you, too. You know that." Rose told Scorpius when they pulled away. "And I think I left scratches on your back. Judging by the blood on my nails."

"It's okay. You don't want to see how I left your neck."

She smiled sweetly and adjusted her position on the couch so Scorpius could lie down beside her.

"Did you like it?" Rose asked him.

"Like it? I told you that I loved you after we finished. What do you think? It didn't have to be mindblowing because what I was looking for wasn't pleasure, but a way of showing you that I love you the most."

She kissed his chest before telling him to shut up lovingly and then proceeding to fall asleep almost immediately after.

Scorpius laughed slightly and started stroking his girlfriend's flaming red hair. He played with Rose's curls until he fell asleep, too, and dreamt about something his mother would be scandalized by.

* * *

Rose woke up in her bed, her whole body sore. Half unconsciously she checked her alarm clock just to confirm that she was right, that it was incredibly early in the morning. What had woken her up, anyway? Usually she slept like a baby and had to fight her mum's claws, trying to get her out of bed.

Rose sat up and stretched until her bones made strange 'crack' noises. She pushed the sheets off of her body and got up.

 _Plonk._

Something hit her window.

"Oh, Salazar." Rose moaned. "Not again."

Rose walked to her window and opened it, the cool summer breeze sending shivers down her spine.

"What-AH!" A rock had hit her straight in the eye. "Fuck! You fucking idiot!"

"I'm so sorry, Rose!" Albus Severus Potter apologized, but he looked more like he was scared than sorry. "I swear I didn't mean to!"

Rose restrained herself from casting an Unforgivable Curse and rubbed her swollen eye. "Get in here. Now, before I change my mind."

She didn't bother to wait for him and went into her bathroom to get some products to clean her eye, since she still couldn't use magic outside of school. When she came back into her room Albus was already there, lying on her bed and biting his nails.

"As punishment, you are going to heal my eye the muggle way." She sat down beside him and put her hair up in a ponytail. Albus grabbed the products and started rubbing her black eye.

"Ouch! Be more careful!" Rose hissed when her cousin pressed a little too hard. "So, what did you want?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. Okay, you can stop now."

Al finished cleaning her eye and kissed her on the cheek.

"I'm really sorry. Please don't kill me." Albus smiled shyly.

"Why don't you apologize by telling why you even came here in the first place?" Rose suggested/demanded.

The young Potter lost his smile suddenly. "Right. Um… Alice and I broke up."

"What?" Rose tried to fake disbelief. "Again? But I thought you guys made up!"

"I'm going to die alone, aren't I? I just keep fucking up every relationship! I'm such a fucking bellend." Albus's voice sounded strained, as if he were close to tears.

"You now that's not true. You just have bad luck in the love department. Okay, that's not true either. Maybe you just haven't found the right person yet. I mean, you're sixteen years old. Don't expect to find the love of your life so soon."

Albus let out a bitter laugh. "I think what you mean is 'Not everyone is like Scorpius and I.'"

Rose punched her cousin's arm. "Don't take your heartbreak on me, bitch. Your life isn't that hard. Just talk to Alice. She'll forgive you like she always does with everyone. Seriously, don't let her go. That girl is gold."

"Yeah, but what if it was her fault? What if maybe–even though she's as sweet as a flower–Alice often says things that hurt me, and when I ask her to apologize she acts as if _she_ was the victim? I get that it might not be on purpose, but if you say something that offends someone else you fucking apologize!" Albus was starting to raise his voice in anger.

"Shhh. No need to wake everyone up."

"I don't want to get back with her! Alright, I do, but she's just so infuriating!" After that last scream he seemed to calm down a bit. "Do you mind if I smoke here?" he took out a pack of cigarettes.

"But I thought you had quit!"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures. Can I or not?"

Rose sighed, tired. "Go ahead, but next to the window. I don't want my whole room to smell like lung cancer. I'm going back to sleep. You can stay if you want to."

That morning no Weasley-Granger seemed surprised when Rose came downstairs followed by the one Albus Potter.

* * *

 **12429 words and 31 pages! I'm pretty sure that's a record!**

 **So, first of all I want to thank anyone who reads this fic and ask you guys to review if you like it or not. Seriously, it would mean the world to me. And shout out to the people following Of friendships and lovers: Magieeem, livvy.2207, madaluis25 and rin916. Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed my story enough to follow it!**

 **Abou Albus sexuality:**

 **Adolescence is about finding yourself, what you like and what you don't. Being confused about your sexuality doesn't always have to involve heterosexuals, but also homosexuals. It works the same way! One day you like _this_ and the next day you find out that you also like _that._ Yep, my friends, that's what growing up does to you.**

 **Now, let's talk about the next chapter. You've probably realized how I skip some years… I just don't like their Hogwarts life, I want them to be grown-ups and have a flat and a dog and a job. So yes, I'm skipping Seventh Year. The only important thing you need to know about their Seventh Year is that Rose and Scorpius have loads of sex and Albus and Alice keep breaking up getting together again all the time. Anyway, on the fourth chapter they're going to be a little older, like 21-22, just finishing their careers. Andddd there's a baby coming! I'm just not telling you whose it is. Muahaha. I can tell it's going to fuck up his/her life and make it so much better at the same time.**

 **That's it, I'm finally done!**

 **Love you all xx**

 **Dolcissimonotappasionato**


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